Charlotte Businessman Arrested In Canada, Faces Fraud Charges

A Charlotte businessman who claimed to be worth billions is now under arrest in Canada on federal fraud charges stemming from the Queen City. Eyewitness News has been tracking J.D. Guess for years, long with a trail of fraud charges and missing money.

Previously, police were only ever able to charge him in one case, and it was dismissed when he paid back the victim.

Almost three years after Eyewitness News sat down with the self-proclaimed business wonderkid, a federal complaint by the Federal Bureau of Investigation lays out a case of wire fraud against Guess that says he used his company, called Ligna Acquisition Group based in Charlotte, to defraud victims out of $1.7 million.

The FBI says Guess promised two large West Coast real estate developers huge loans -- in one case, $42 million and another $204 million. In each case, those developers said they sent Guess huge advance fees, amounting to more than $1.1 million.

FBI agents say Guess took the money and never making good on the loans.

Those companies filed lawsuits, but Guess was nowhere to be found.

Last summer, a receptionist told Eyewitness News that Guess had moved out of his University City headquarters. He resurfaced in Toronto, Canada, where a year ago he made an offer to buy the Krispy Kreme doughnut company.

That deal never went through, but just last month police in Canada finally did arrest Guess on a series of minor fraud charges. Now he's facing more serious charges at home in Charlotte.

Guess is still in jail in Canada and he won't get out before he comes back to the Queen City to face the fraud charges.

FBI agents said they can’t say when that will be, but several of his alleged victims said it can't come soon enough.