Columbia, South Carolina ---- Acting United States Attorney Kevin F. McDonald stated today that Joseph B. Brunson, age 46, of Hopkins, Timothy McQueen, age 50, of Blythewood, and Tony Pough, age 46, of Columbia, were charged in a Complaint with Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349. 

Joseph B. Brunson, Timothy McQueen, and Tony Pough were arraigned this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Joseph R. McCrorey.  No bond was set pending a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday, June 3rd, at 2:30 p.m.

The Complaint describes a scheme in which investors were encouraged to participate in a number of debt elimination schemes by paying fees to the Capital Consortium Group (CCG), the business entity fronted by the Three Hebrew Boys.  The fees were then purportedly swept through bank accounts into the FOREX market, where foreign currency is traded.  The Defendants claimed these FOREX investments yielded returns of between 200% and 500% per night.  According to CCG records, between 2004 and 2007, approximately 7,000 individuals invested roughly $80,000,000, in over 14,000 individual programs.      

Kevin F. McDonald stated the maximum penalty Joseph B. Brunson, Timothy McQueen, and Tony Pough could receive is a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment of 20 years.

Mr. McDonald stated that the case was investigated by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Internal Revenue Service, and that he has assigned the case to Assistant United States Attorneys Winston Holliday and Mark Moore of the Columbia office for prosecution.

The United States Attorney stated that all charges in this Complaint are merely accusations and that all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.