The FBI in North Carolina is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to the arrest of a former Raleigh resident who fled after being charged in connection with an investment scheme.
An arrest warrant was issued for Ronald Earl McCullough in July 2013 after he was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, engaging in unlawful monetary transactions, and aiding and abetting. McCullough portrayed himself as a religious leader and used that angle to get his investors to trust him with their life savings and even with property the victims planned to build a church on.
Between 2009 and 2012, McCullough and a partner, who was convicted at trial in June of 2015, solicited people to invest in what McCullough described as an exclusive foreign currency exchange group. He told the victims their return was “guaranteed” and the principal was safe. Often times they promised to double an investors money in as little as 30 days.
Bank records show that McCullough and his partner never successfully invested any money. They paid back very little as Ponzi payments, spent more than $800,000 for purchases that included clothes, cars and lavish homes, and lost more than $400,000 trading other people’s money.
McCullough has previously lived in Raleigh but may now be in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
Anyone with information to locate McCullough should call 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324.) The investigation is being handled by the FBI, United States Postal Inspection Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, and North Carolina Secretary of State’s Office Securities Division.