The unfolding financial scandal involving the alleged theft of millions of dollars in investments related to the purchase of bogus municipal bonds by as many as 75 clients of the now-closed Johnson and Niswonger Financial in Perryville continues to capture the community’s attention as new pieces of the puzzle emerge.
For most Perryville residents, the first rumblings of a potentially huge alleged financial scam were heard in the last 10 days of April and erupted on the morning of Monday, April 28, when a small group of senior-aged Johnson and Niswonger clients stood outside the firm’s locked doors at 27 W. St. Joseph St., hoping to learn whether the money they had invested in the alleged scheme – some reportedly as much as half a million dollars – was still safe and to pose a simple question to the owners: Why?
The FBI is investigating the claims against Johnson & Niswonger, but declined comment on the ongoing investigation.
When questioned about why they had gathered outside the financial office that morning, the answers among the firm’s clients — most of which asked not to be identfied — varied.
One woman said, “Because they took all my money. They told us it was in mutual funds, and it’s not. They lied to me. I asked them when I invested, is it insured? They said, ‘Yes.’ That’s a lie. I had three FBI men come to my house Friday telling me what was going on. They had already confiscated [Johnson and Niswonger’s] phones and their computers, and [the FBI] told me that [Johnson and Niswonger] was making $15,000 a month, plus they were making, I’m gonna say, over a million a year each. I think I’m being screwed, and I think they’re a bunch of damn liars.”
Another said, “When I made my last investment, which was $100,000, I said, ‘Is it bad to put most of your eggs in one basket?’ He said, ‘No, but in this basket, your eggs are not gonna get broken – and this was probably two months ago.”
One of the victims admitted that it was the second financial scam they had recently been involved in.
“I got all my money back, and I invested it here, and it’s gone again. Can you believe I lost the same money twice?”
An anxious dad was standing outside Johnson and Niswonger because of an investment made by his daughter.
“My daughter is 20 years old,” he said. “She has $10,000 of her money invested in this business here – her personal money. I told her when she turned 20, to come up here and put your money in here, it’s safe ... to blah, blah, blah. She went to [Johnson’s] house this weekend. He said that everything was going to be OK. They had committed no crimes – nothing. It was somebody who had reported them and made a bad report, which is what caused this investigation. He continued to tell her basically that everything was going to be OK, that if she came up Monday, he would work on getting her money back. I’m here today at nine o’clock to get the money back, start the process of getting the money back. They’re not here.”
Many of the people who were allegedly scammed by Johnson and Niswonger are not wealthy. The money they invested in the faux municipal bonds was the result of years of putting a little bit back every month in hopes of building a nest egg to use for retirement. Others wanted to leave something to their survivors after they died, and a few were socking away money to pay for their kids’ or grandkids’ education. Now it’s all gone.
Some of the stories that have been told are especially difficult to hear.
According to a woman who has a relative married to Johnson’s daughter, the couple invested and lost all of their money.
“They’re having a hard time with it,” she said. “The daughter doesn’t want to be seen around town because she’s so embarrassed about what her father did. It’s bad enough to steal money from people in the community you’ve known for years, but to steal from your own family? That’s really bad.”
A woman shared her story from her new home out of state, saying that she had gotten her money out before losing everything, but was still left with a hefty tax bill. “
I luckily got out by the skin of my chinny chin chin. I just feel sorry for all the other people. He only got about 50,000 grand from me, but he didn’t get it the same way from me that he got it from the other people. I got my money back because he was a little afraid of me.”
She said Johnson had been her family’s financial advisor for several years.
“After my husband passed away, I kept getting the runaround from [Johnson], and I’m getting these weird vibes. I’m looking for another financial advisor. So, one year, every time I went to get money from [Johnson], because I live on my retirement and some investments now, I would ask him, ‘Is this taxable income or non-taxable income?’ I was told, ‘Oh, it’s not taxable. It’s non-taxable.’ Well, he cost me $50,000 in taxes, is what he did. So, he stole $50,000 from me — around about, but he did it. I ended up getting my money away from him, thank God.”
The woman mentioned she was certain that something was going to happen months before the FBI got involved.
“The Missouri State Attorney [General] started calling me, so I knew something was up six or eight months ago. So, [Johnson] had royally screwed me. My husband went on Google and did a Google review. Right after that, we started getting phone calls from the Missouri State Attorney [General].”
Although the stolen money may never be returned to its rightful owners, the scam that has defrauded so many in the community will impact the people of Perryville for many years to come.
