Jury returns guilty verdict on former Global Aquaponics COO Tim Burns for fraud
A federal jury returned a guilty verdict Monday against a former executive of a company that authorities say was used as a scheme to defraud investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The jury found Timothy Burns guilty on five charges of wire fraud in connection with his role with Global Aquaponics. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Burns was the one-time chief operating officer of Global Aquaponics, which sought investors to build an $11 million indoor fish farm and hydroponics facility in Brookings. Construction on the fish farm never started, and investors who put a minimum of $25,000 each in the project lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for about four hours after getting the case following closing arguments.
Read more: https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2019/04/29/tim-burns-verdict-global-aquaponics-brookings-south-dakota-tobias-ritesman/3618487002/
(Sioux Falls Argus Leader)