Utah businessmen indicted, charged with financial crimes

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal grand jury has returned an indictment against two Utah businessmen on Tuesday, charging the pair with various financial crimes.

Aaron A. Wagner, 42, was initially charged in late October. His business partner, Michael Mains, 46, was listed as a codefendant and indicted with Wagner on Nov. 6.

According to the filed indictment, the pair devised a scheme to steal from investors over nearly three and a half years, from March 12, 2021 to Sep. 27, 2024.

The document also states that the pair would offer investments or loans to investors and show them Wagner’s lavish lifestyle, including exotic cars and personal jets, to provide an air of legitimacy to the pair’s business.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the pair also set up Wagscap Food Services to control the investments they illegally obtained. Through Wagscap, they took money from businesses, including Everbowl, Hello Sugar, Dirty Bird, and other chains.

According to the release, the pair also told lenders and investors that their money would be used to develop restaurants instead of diverting that investment capital to their accounts.

The pair are also charged with diverting millions of dollars for their benefit, including items such as a $4 million house for Wagner in Arizona, an $8 million airplane to be shared, a $4.5 million property to be developed into a nightclub, and an $8 million property in Montana.

Both Aaron A. Wagner and Michael Mains are facing 16 charges, including;

• four counts of wire fraud;
• one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud;
• six counts of transactional money laundering, and;
• five counts of concealment of money laundering.