ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A St. Augustine man was indicted Wednesday for his role in a fraud scheme that cost one of his victims over $2 million and involved fake email accounts, fake text messages, and fake hirings of attorneys, according to the Department of Justice.
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Eric James Stone, 42, is facing 10 counts of fraud and five counts of money laundering after court documents revealed that he allegedly solicited money from former clients during his time as an employee of Fidelity Investments in the form of personal loans, which were never paid back.
The DOJ says Stone was fired from Fidelity in June 2021 following previous allegations of soliciting money and receiving loans from clients.
Read the full indictment below
In one instance, the DOJ reports that one of Stone’s former clients provided him a $30,000 loan through PayPal on May 4, 2021. The indictment says Stone signed a promissory note that same day to repay the loan with $1,000 interest by May 31.
After the deadline for repayment passed, the victim and Stone remained in contact, with Stone repeatedly stating that he would repay the loan, officials say. The indictment says that repayment never occurred.
Between July 2022 and September 2024, investigators say Stone continued to communicate with the victim, which was part of the scheme, and at one point, informed them that PayPal had launched an investigation into the funds that were sent back in 2021.
During this time, Stone used multiple fake email accounts to perpetuate the scheme, even using the fake accounts to solicit further payments from the victim in the name of resolving the PayPal investigation, the DOJ claims.
One of the fake accounts allegedly used by Stone was to portray a Florida state investigator, the indictment said.
It also claims that Stone would send the victim screenshots of fake text messages from attorneys that he said were helping him with the PayPal matter and directed them to “open various bank and other financial accounts” to continue receiving money from them.
The DOJ says that altogether, Stone “falsely induced” the victim to perform about 613 financial transactions that totaled $2,037,103.
The case is being investigated by the IRS’s criminal investigation unit and the FBI with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, among other agencies.
FBI Jacksonville said that anyone who believes they may have been victimized by Stone should contact them at 904-248-7000, or submit their information to www.tips.fbi.gov
