Indicted CEO in Idaho Nuclear Power Scam Jumps Bail

(EnviroNews Idaho) — Boise, Idaho — Donald L. Gillespie, indicted CEO of the now defunct nuclear power penny stock scam Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc. (AEHI), jumped bail today in Boise, Idaho.

In November of 2014, Gillespie and Jennifer Ransom, Senior Vice President of the company (and also Gillespie’s girlfriend), were indicted on multiple counts of securities fraud.

The elaborate atomic trading scam sought to accomplish the building of a 10 billion dollar nuclear power facility in Payette County, Idaho. Before being accepted there, the plan had shuffled through multiple potential sites and had previously been rejected by Elmore and Owyhee counties.

Along the way, Gillespie and Ransom, a licensed securities agent, ripped off a plethora of individuals — puffing up stock values with scandalously untrue press releases, and by using illegal inside stock selling and purchasing techniques.

By the time all was said and done, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) put a stop to the madness by suspending trading of the company’s stock, but not until the atomic duo had successfully scammed investors and local residents out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In April of 2015, Ransom pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud, and as part of that deal agreed to forfeit around $600,000 and pay restitution. Ransom’s sentencing is set for July 27 in front of U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge, and she faces up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

Gillespie however, is on a separate path with his legal proceedings, and since the November indictment, even more charges had been levied against the radioactive stock scammer in a new indictment dated May 13, 2015. Eight days later on May 21, he was set to appear in front U.S. District Court Judge Larry M. Boyle to face the new charges.

Federal Defenders Services of Idaho Attorney Robert Schwarz was on the scene to represent Gillespie, but as for Gillespie himself — a no-show. EnviroNews was unable to reach Schwarz for comment, and it is not yet known weather an arrest warrant has been issued, although one seems virtually inevitable.

According to onlookers in the courtroom, Gillespie’s attorney had no idea where he was and made no attempt to make any excuses for him, as the rain poured outside and time ticked by.

Correspondents who had been close to the AEHI investigation for years and who wished to remain anonymous, told EnviroNews after the November indictments that they felt Gillespie was indeed a flight risk — apparently, they were right.

Followers of the case are now left to wonder the whereabouts of the slippery stock scammer and if he might be chilling out on a white sandy beach in the Bahamas or some other pristine paradise. The feds go burned today, but perhaps they will be able to apprehend Gillespie before he’s able to swindle anyone else. Time will tell.

TAGS
A.E.H.I., AEHI, Alternate Energy Holdings, Alternate Energy Holdings Inc., Don Gillespie, Donald Gillespie, Donald L. Gillespie, Edward J. Lodge, Emerson Urry, Jennifer Ransom, Judge Edward J. Lodge, Judge Larry M. Boyle, Larry M. Boyle, Nuclear, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power