El Paso businessman charged in wire fraud scheme

Russell Vandenburg, 74, of El Paso and Scott Anthony Stuart, 55, of Las Vegas, were charged on Friday with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and 10 counts of wire fraud for their alleged roles in a wire fraud scheme, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

The charges were filed in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

Before he stepped down in 2017, Vandenburg was CEO of TVO North America, a real estate investment company. He was also well-known as a supporter of UTEP Athletics.

Both men had leadership roles at companies in the real estate industry including property management, construction management and property acquisition in El Paso and the United States. Vandenburg and Stuart oversaw the bank accounts of the companies and the properties managed by them, according to the DOJ.

Vandenburg and Stuart engaged in the alleged scheme from February of 2015 through October of 2017 to defraud the partners that held an ownership interest in the properties that the companies managed.

They allegedly misrepresented how funds obtained from the properties were used, and misappropriated those funds for the personal benefit of Vandenburg and others, according to the news release.

As part of the scheme, Vandenburg and Stuart allegedly commingled funds from different properties and used the funds for non-authorized expenses including covering shortfalls, expenses for other properties and for paying Vandenburg’s personal expenses. 

They allegedly concealed the fraud by making misleading and false statements to company partners and by concealing information from the partners. 

“Messrs. Vandenberg and Stuart are alleged to have violated the trust of individuals who invested in our local community,” stated Jeffrey R. Downey, Special Agent in Charge, FBI El Paso Field Office, in a news release. “The FBI looks forward to assisting the United States Attorney’s Office in the prosecution of this case.”

A date for the defendants’ initial court appearances has not been set. If convicted, Vandenburg and Stuart face up to 20 years in prison on each of the fraud counts.

Vandenburg has previously faced lawsuits as an executive of El Paso-based TVO North America.

In 2018, a Colorado-based company called ASI capital filed a lawsuit against Vandenburg, alleging breach of contract on a promissory note in the sale of a Louisiana apartment complex.

Vandenburg and TVO North America also faced a 2017 lawsuit from an El Paso homebuilder, alleging theft and fraud in a $3 million deal.