Key J. David Swindle Figure Returns to S.D. to Face Charges

A former associate of convicted swindler J. David (Jerry) Dominelli returned to San Diego from England Monday to surrender to federal authorities and plead innocent to 29 counts stemming from the $80-million investment fraud.

Mark Robert Yarry, 47, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Irma Gonzalez, who approved a bail agreement allowing him to remain free by posting a $100,000 bond.

The former managing director of the now-defunct J. David Banking Co. Ltd. was ordered to appear next Monday before U.S. District Judge Earl Gilliam to set dates for pretrial motion hearings.

Yarry, who directed the La Jolla-based J. David Banking between 1981 and February, 1984, moved to England with his family shortly after Dominelli’s firm was forced into involuntary bankruptcy by angry investors.

He is accused of 24 counts of mail fraud, four counts of interstate transport of fraudulently obtained securities and one count of aiding and abetting Dominelli’s investment fraud scheme.

Dominelli pleaded guilty in March, 1985, to charges including bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion stemming from the scam, in which 1,500 investors lost more than $80 million. He is serving a 20-year federal prison term.

An indictment charging Yarry in the scheme was secretly returned by a grand jury in June, 1987, but remained under seal until March 3. Extradition requests for Yarry were filed with British authorities.

Yarry is accused of transferring more than $1 million worth of funds invested in a purported international currency market to his personal bank account in Switzerland.

U.S. Atty. Peter Nunez has said that Yarry was charged only with mail fraud and illegal transportation counts “because those are the only counts that fall within the extradition treaty the United States has with Great Britain.”

Another 56-count indictment, also released March 3, names Dominelli’s former companion, Nancy Hoover Hunter, and four other defendants with involvement in the scheme.