O.C. Couple Sought in Fraud Tracked to Florida, Arrested

After eluding law enforcement agencies for three weeks, an Aliso Viejo couple accused of defrauding more than 100 investors of at least $4 million have been arrested without incident in Florida, authorities said Wednesday.

Robert Lewis Syrax, 56, and his wife, Sandra Diane Coronado, 46, were charged with wire fraud in connection with an alleged scheme that defrauded investors across the country, including a 90-year-old man in Sonoma.

The couple ran two businesses, Gecko Holdings of Irvine and RLS Consulting in Costa Mesa, that authorities said conned people into investing in a nonexistent online gambling venture.

When FBI agents arrested the couple in a hotel room in Palm Coast, Fla., they found Syrax smoking a Cuban cigar and drinking vodka, officials said. Syrax and Coronado were arraigned Wednesday and held without bail. They are expected to be returned to California next week.

The business offices and the couple’s home were raided March 10, but the couple had fled more than a week earlier, according to investigators.

Syrax and Coronado drove around the Southland, stopping at several banks to empty accounts and safe-deposit boxes of more than $2.5 million in cash, checks and cashier’s checks, according to an FBI affidavit.

The couple then drove to Las Vegas with one of their employees, the affidavit said.

They apparently had been tipped off to the investigation after a car dealer who had sold them two Rolls-Royces--for cash--received a grand jury subpoena. The dealer contacted their attorney, according to the affidavit.

The attorney, Jack Swickard, then told Syrax, “I can’t tell you anything as an attorney, but as a friend, get out of town,” the affidavit said.

In an interview, Swickard said that he had heard about an investigation from a source in Irvine other than the car dealer. He also denied that he had advised his clients to flee.

After two weeks in Las Vegas, the couple reportedly headed to Florida. Authorities said they picked up the trail earlier this week, tracing a package of forged identification papers allegedly sent from Aliso Viejo to Palm Coast by an employee.

Authorities seized cash and assets of more than $500,000 after the arrest. At their arraignment Wednesday, Syrax and Coronado claimed they were indigent.

Previously, investigators had confiscated the two Rolls-Royces, worth a total of $500,000, plus numerous bank accounts and other assets.

The companies run by Syrax and Coronado solicited investments over the telephone for what turned out to be a nonexistent online gambling venture, authorities said. They sold investors stock in the business, promising that it would go public by mid-June.

The stock was priced at $2 per share, and investors were allegedly told that the company expected the shares to trade in the $6 to $8 range. But authorities said the company had no business license and never intended to go public.

Investors expressed relief and anger after learning that Syrax and Coronado had been caught.

“I will do everything, whatever it takes, to make sure that they are prosecuted to the maximum extent of the laws, and beyond that I will pursue every civil remedy available,” said Jeff Laughren, a Eustis, Fla., resident who said he lost $100,000.

Investigators now will focus on recovering the investors’ funds and looking into the activities of other employees of the two firms.