Wilton Man Arraigned On Embezzlement Charges

District Attorney Jan Scully announced today that 46 year-old Lonnie Crawford Nielson of Wilton, Calif  was arraigned on 12 felony counts of grand theft. Nielson, a part owner of the Sacramento Capitals tennis team, is alleged to have embezzled over $760,000.00 from 11 clients between May and December of 2009.

Nielson was the owner and sole operator of a business commonly known as the “1031 Exchange” that temporarily accepted funds from the sale of his clients’ real estate properties. Nielson was supposed to deposit these funds into separate and secure bank trust accounts for each client.

These funds were to be applied to his clients’ future purchases of other real estate properties. Instead of holding his clients’ funds in separate bank trust accounts, Nielson allegedly used their funds to pay off debts he owed to other clients from misappropriations for personal investments, including an investment Nielson made in the Le Rivage Hotel in Sacramento.

As a result, Nielson was unable to return the funds as promised to his clients. Nielson is facing up to 16 years and 8 months in prison.