St. Charles County man gets probation for mining company fraud - STLtoday.com

ST. LOUIS • David Corey Tolle, the co-owner of a mining investment company that swindled investors out of as much as $1.7 million, was sentenced Thursday to three years of probation and ordered to repay $526,750.

Tolle's co-defendant, Christopher M. Cristea, was sentenced last week to 46 months in federal prison and ordered to repay $1.7 million.

Prosecutors say Cristea and Tolle promised investors out-sized returns in the mining of gold and other precious metals in the western U.S. and West Africa, via their companies Cristol Enterprises LLC, and Charis Minerals Inc.

Investors' money was supposed to pay for mining operations, but it was actually used for personal expenses, unrelated business expenses and to repay an earlier investor in one case, prosecutors said. Cristea also loaned some of the money to beauty academy students, they said.

The pair were indicted in October 2014. That same day, Cristea accepted an investment of $100,000, and didn't tell the investors that he'd been indicted, as he was required to do by the terms of his release on bond, court records show. Later that year, Cristea applied for a $1 million line of credit. He failed to disclose the indictment and lied about his financial health, prosecutors said.

In court Thursday, Tolle apologized to victims and said that he should have “asked more questions” about what Cristea was doing.

Both Tolle and defense lawyer Lenny Kagan asked for probation, citing his lack of a criminal history and the restitution that he could pay while if allowed to stay out of prison and work.

U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson cited those factors as well as Tolle's minor role in the crime.

Tolle, 45, of O’Fallon, Mo., pleaded guilty Jan. 27 to one felony count of wire fraud.

Cristea, 45, of St. Charles, pleaded guilty that same month in an agreement that carried a 22-month prison sentence. But Jackson rejected the deal, and Cristea pleaded guilty again six months later without specifying a recommended or mandatory sentence. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, making a false statement to a financial institution and four felony counts of wire fraud.