Man Charged in Ponzi Scheme is Found Dead in Palm Harbor

A man facing accusations of running a Ponzi scheme was found dead in a parked car outside Muvico Theaters in Palm Harbor earlier this week, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The body of William Jeffery Chandler, 55, of Pasco County, was found inside a four-door Mercedes parked on Cypress Pond Road off U.S. 19 around 4 a.m. Monday, the newspaper reports, citing the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

Chandler had suffered what appeared to be "self-inflicted wounds," a sheriff's office spokersperson told the Times.

A civil suit filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleges Chandler solicited at least six people to contribute about $773,100 to a pooled account in Switzerland, according to the Times' story.

"That money then would be used to buy or sell a certain amount of a foreign currency at a fixed price in U.S. dollars," the Times reports, and investors were promised a 12.5 percent return on investment every month — but investors never saw the money. Instead, the suit alleges, Chandler spent it.

Read more about the charges against Chandler and his death in the Times' story.

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