Gustavus Adolphus accounting professor indicted on fraud charges over embezzlement claims

A federal grand jury this week indicted a 44-year-old Gustavus Adolphus College professor on a litany of fraud charges for allegedly embezzling more than $690,000 from a real estate company he helped manage.

The indictment returned Tuesday accused James Anthony Kroger of Cottonwood, Minn., of embezzling money invested by a business partner into a company they set up to buy Texas properties sold at auctions for unpaid taxes.

According to the charges, Kroger used the funds on “extravagant personal purchases,” laundered money through purchases of gold and silver bullion and vehicles, and filed a fraudulent petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy to conceal his scheme.

The charges identified Kroger as a professor of business and accounting, but does not specify where. A spokesperson for Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter confirmed Wednesday that Kroger has been employed at the college since January.

The indictment was filed publicly Wednesday morning, but a federal judge sealed the document at the request of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors asked Wednesday afternoon that it remains sealed until Kroger’s first court appearance, which is not yet scheduled.

When reached for comment, Kroger told the Star Tribune in an email late Wednesday evening that he was unaware of the pending charges against him. Calling himself “The Fighting Schoolteacher,” Kroger said he filed a “criminal complaint” of his own with the Lyon County Sheriff against the FBI and Justice Department in April 2023.

In February of this year, Kroger said, he produced a 1,114-page “Kroger Report” that details his own allegations, including attempts by federal authorities “to murder me with an unmarked, black ops fighter jet and a helicopter.” He said he also filed $6 trillion in “claims against the FBI, Justice Department, and Judiciary.”

“This is the first that I am hearing of these indictments; however, these indictments are clearly retaliatory for having filed $6 Trillion in claims against the FBI, Justice Department, and Judiciary under the Federal Tort Claims Act and are baseless,” Kroger wrote. “I am innocent of both of these allegations and I will be pleading not guilty.”

According to the indictment:

Kroger and a business partner identified as “Individual A” set up a Wyoming-based company called Lone Star Municipal Finance Co. LLC in October 2019. The company was to serve as a real estate joint venture to invest in Texas properties being sold at public auctions for unpaid taxes.

Kroger proposed that the joint venture would acquire the tax deeds to the properties and make a profit by selling the property back to the delinquent taxpayer/debtor, renting the properties to tenants or by improving and reselling them.

Kroger managed the day-to-day operations of Lone Star from 2019 to 2021 while his partner provided all investment capital for the venture, according to the charges. In November and December 2019, the partner put in about $840,000 to buy the tax deed properties.

That person agreed to join the joint venture after Kroger had represented it as a “low-risk” investment opportunity with a high upside.

Instead, the charges allege, Kroger embezzled and laundered more than $690,000 of his partner’s money from February 2019 to May 2021.

He used his position as chief executive manager of Lone Star to transfer more than $480,000 from its bank account to his personal accounts from November 2019 to February 2020. Each transfer carried a memo line of “loan” or “expense reimbursement.”

But prosecutors allege Kroger spent the money on “extravagant personal purchases instead.”

“These purchases included large cash withdrawals, purchases of gold and silver bullion, checks to family members, paying off loans against insurance policies, and retail and travel purchases from Amazon, eBay, Apple, Delta, and other vendors,” the indictment reads.

Kroger’s business partner, meanwhile, was never given a signed or executed note or loan agreement and was unaware of the total amount of the transfers. Kroger claimed that receiving his salary as a “loan” from the company would allow him to appear “poor on paper.” He said that arrangement would allow him to avoid taxes, remain eligible for free, state subsidized health insurance, and get a substantial portion of his student loans forgiven.

After the partner initially invested $640,000 in 2019, Kroger persuaded him to invest more money and coordinated the purchase of three properties. At one point, the partner transferred $200,000 to the Lone Star account that Kroger said was needed to further fund its real estate investment program. The money instead went to Kroger’s personal bank account.

After Kroger’s partner discovered his scheme, Kroger fraudulently continued to spend Lone Star funds without authorization. In April 2020, he asked Texas Tax Sales Resource Group to wire nearly $170,000 in Lone Star funds held by the group to Intelligent Technology, a company solely controlled by Kroger. He then transferred the money to his Wells Fargo personal bank account.

Almost a year after being discovered, Kroger transferred without his partner’s authorization the three Texas properties from Lone Star to Kroger Dynasty Holdings, a separate company solely owned by him. In May, he then sold one of the properties to an unrelated purchaser for nearly $24,000 and kept the proceeds. Kroger’s partner eventually recovered the remaining two properties via a civil lawsuit and sold them at fair market values.

Kroger has not made meaningful efforts to repay Lone Star beyond a few hundred dollars, according to the indictment.

He is also accused of trying to launder the money by making 19 purchases of gold and silver bullion totaling more than $198,000 from coin dealers from November 2019 to August 2021. Most purchases aligned with transfers of funds that Kroger made from Lone Star’s bank account to his personal checking account.

He resold most of the coins he purchased back to dealers. Kroger also used the money to buy two vehicles, putting both of their titles in his mother’s name.

Federal prosecutors say Kroger made a final effort to conceal his scheme by filing a fraudulent petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in June 2022, falsely stating that the money he had embezzled from Lone Star was “business debts” and that he had minimal possessions, electronics or household goods.

He also concealed his interests in various personal properties and vehicles, and failed to disclose or adequately provide documentation related to certain financial assets or positions, including bank account balances, gold and silver purchases, gambling losses, or insurance policies.

Kroger, the indictment reads, “failed to account for various sham purchases and lease agreements he had entered into with his mother.”

He is charged with nine counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and one count of bankruptcy fraud.

The government wants to seize the 2019 Chevrolet Colorado and 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood that Kroger bought with allegedly embezzled funds.