A former Fairfield resident has been sentenced to prison for investment fraud with over $2 million in restitution. The U.S. District Court has sentenced 67-year-old Bruce Arthur Hauptman to 42 months in prison for three counts of wire fraud. He was also ordered to three years of supervised release following his prison term and to pay restitution to victims in an amount of $2,158,000.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud on November 21, 2019. According to court documents, he was a former registered securities agent in Iowa and convinced multiple victims in Iowa and Wyoming to invest in businesses he created. He promised repayment of their investments with interest. Victims received occasional payments of a portion of the interest due but when they tried to get their money back, Hauptman ignored their requests or lied to them on the status of their investments. It was found that he had used a substantial portion of the money for his personal use on things like his mortgage, rent payments, and credit card payments.

The case was investigated by the Insurance Fraud Bureau and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.