Alexandria Man Sentenced For $18M Fraudulent Investment Scheme

ALEXANDRIA, VA — An Alexandria man was sentenced Friday to over eight years in prison for a fraudulent scheme that led to over $18 million in losses from investors.

Daniel Boice, 41, of Alexandria is the former CEO and co-founder of Trustify Inc., an Arlington-based technology start-up company that connected customers with private investigators. Boice promoted the company as the "Uber" of private investigator services. According to court documents, raised more than $18 million from more than 250 individual and corporate investors starting in 2015.

Prosecutors say Boice falsely overstated Trustify's monthly and annual revenues in fraudulent financial statements and investors performance. He also fabricated large corporate business relationships to support his false statements about Trustify’s growth. He also made a fake email account posing as a prominent potential investor and sent a fraudulent email to convince an investment firm to invest nearly $2 million in Trustify.

According to court documents, Boice also made false claims about the amount of investor funds that he would personally receive. Instead, he took at least $3.7 million in personal proceeds from investor funds, including several million dollars in transfers from Trustify to bank accounts and personal charges on credit cards paid with Trustify funds. Trustify funds were used for the down payment on a $1.6 million house in Alexandria and a $1 million beach house in New Jersey, as well as a chauffeur, house manager, various luxury items, family vacations, private jet trips, and over $100,000 for premium seats at sporting events.

"By spinning an elaborate web of lies, Boice fraudulently induced victims to invest over $18 million in his company so that he could misappropriate millions of those dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle and personal aggrandizement," said Raj Parekh, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "This case demonstrates that we will hold corporate executives accountable when they cast aside their fiduciary duties for personal financial gain."

In 2019, Trustify was placed into corporate receivership by the Delaware Chancery Court as the start-up faced declining revenues and impacts of Boice's personal expenditures. As the company collapsed, investors had more than $18 million in losses, and employees had over $250,000 in unpaid wages and related costs.

Boice's 97 months in prison will be followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $18,131,742.21 in restitution and $3.7 million in forfeiture.