Bolingbrook Man Gets 15 Years For Role in $93 Million Defrauding Case

A Bolingbrook man who admitted to helping defraud investors and clients of more than $93 million will begin his 15-year prison sentence next month.

Jeremy Blackburn, the former president and CFO of Canopy Financial, Inc., and Bolingbrook resident, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud in a U.S. District Court in December of 2010.

According to the Department of Justice, Blackburn admitted to his role in a fraud scheme that cheated investors of approximately $75 million, while at the same time misappropriating more than $18 million from customer accounts intended for health care savings and expenses.

Canopy Financial, Inc., developed and marketed software programs for banks and health care payers to administer and process payments involving health-related savings and spending amounts, the release said. The company had offices in Chicago, Plainsboro, N.J., and San Francisco.

Blackburn will begin his sentence March 20.

A second defendant, Anthony Banas, 33, of Homer Glen, Canopy's chief technology officer, pled guilty to wire fraud in September of 2010, the filing says.

Banas reports for his 13-year prison sentence April 18.

According to the filing, Blackburn, Banas and a third individual co-founded Canopy in 2004, which reportedly was one of the country's fastest-growing privately-held companies before it entered bankruptcy proceedings in November 2009.

After proposing to sell the company, the filing says Blackburn then prepared false monthly operating reports inflating Canopy's revenue and distributed them to others knowing they would be used to solicit investors.