By Gail McCarthy
Staff writer
March 10, 2008 05:56 am A self-professed marble dealer and a former associate of disbarred Gloucester attorney Jon Conant has pleaded guilty to 16 counts of fraud and money laundering in U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vt. John Byors, 50, who has been detained for more than two years, is expected to remain incarcerated until his sentencing in the fall. Byors' name is familiar to several Cape Ann residents because he was a former associate of Conant, who also tried to interest residents in investing in marble operations in Vermont, a move that allegedly cost some people tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Byors told investors that he planned to harvest rare red marble from a Swanton, Vt., quarry. Instead, it is alleged that he spent most of the money for personal use, purchasing cars and horses and making home improvements. Byors' indictment came after an investigation by the IRS and FBI, in part, involving promissory notes. Byors entered his plea Tuesday — the day before jury selection was to begin. At least one Gloucester resident was scheduled to testify at the trial that was set to begin on March 18 in Burlington, Vt. Conant, who faced criminal and civil charges in Massachusetts state courts on separate cases, was not named to the federal lawsuit in Vermont. In December 2005, federal agents arrested Byors on a criminal complaint of fraud. He had initially pleaded not guilty and was released from jail. However, he was re-arrested in February 2006 after authorities said he continued to improperly solicit money from investors — against his probation guidelines. He remains in Clinton County Jail in Plattsburgh, N.Y., across Lake Champlain from Burlington. An indictment handed down in April 2006 initially cited 57 counts, including bank, wire, mail and travel fraud and money laundering. The prosecutors accused him of defrauding more than $8 million from at least 78 investors, making this one of the largest fraud cases in Vermont. Those investors and alleged victims include residents from throughout New England, including Bonnie Akerley of Gloucester. In a previous plea agreement that never was consummated, Akerley was listed as having lost $615,000. When contacted yesterday, she said she did not have any comment on the case of Byors' plea. Tatiana Bechard of Vermont, who first met Byors when she worked at a bank where he had an account, faced the largest losses, more than $800,000. Holly Cain, a Gloucester resident and certified public accountant, agreed to comment on the case because she wants to warn others to be careful so they don't make the same mistakes she did. She considered Conant a friend and finally agreed to invest in the marble operations. "It makes me feel very, very sad that one could trust somebody so much," said Cain, one of Byors' victims who was scheduled to testify. "My advice is if it looks too good to be true, don't do it. I've learned my lesson and I'm working it off now to put my kids through college. The things I was promised aren't there. It's a terrible situation. He hurt me bad, though not as bad as others who lost far more. I've written it off and I'm moving on and I'm going to survive." Cain said she is much more wary now. "In hindsight and foresight, no one can know it's going to happen and I'm just disappointed in myself. How did I not see it coming? You think, how did something like this happen?" she said. "I'm much more wary now. I'm out there for anybody who needs help. I'm out there to demonstrate the fact that even those who do their homework can be had, and I did my homework like you wouldn't believe," Cain said. "I wouldn't just hand him over tens of thousands of dollars. They had everybody and there are people not listed in court papers who are victims." When Byors was arrested in December 2005, he had raised more than $10 million from approximately 100 investors. "Byors promised to double investors' money within one year. Byors memorialized the investors' loans in a series of promissory notes and security agreements, in which he pledged as collateral various raw blocks of marble that had been extracted from quarries Byors leased," according to a statement issued by the Vermont U.S. Attorney's Office. "Byors flagrantly overstated the value of the collateral as he tried to induce prospective investors to lend him money." Instead of using the money for business-related purposes, he used a substantial amount of the money to make partial payments to earlier investors and "to support a lavish personal lifestyle," the statement said. The revised indictment had 42 counts of fraud, and his plea covers 16 counts. He could face up to 20 years of imprisonment and $1 million in fines. Greg Waples, assistant U.S. attorney, said Byors is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 22. "Byors also will be ordered to pay full restitution to his victims, although little of the fraudulently obtained proceeds has been recovered in the aftermath of Byors' arrest," according to the U.S. attorney's press release. Byors, like Conant, used to live on the North Shore before moving to Vermont. Byors had also been named as a defendant along with Conant in a 2003 Massachusetts Superior Court lawsuit brought against Conant and others by a son of Hilda Ayer Anderson of Gloucester. In that case, Conant introduced Byors to Anderson, "and she was convinced" to lend him $460,000, which was needed to purchase marble saws and other equipment. Byors, doing business as Westside Marble, later defaulted on the unsecured loans. The Ayer-Anderson Foundation named him in the lawsuit to collect amounts due in promissory notes. Byors denied any wrongdoing and asserted he was not in default because Conant orally extended the due dates of the promissory notes. But the attorneys allege that he was involved in phony loan transactions to defraud Anderson. Byors settled out of the Suffolk Superior Court case when he agreed to repay the loans and interest for a sum of $675,000. Gail McCarthy can be reached at gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com.
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