Prison for member of prominent Minnesota horse-racing family who cheated investors out of millions

A member of one of Minnesota's most prominent horse-racing families has received a prison term topping four years after admitting he ran a Ponzi scheme that bilked millions of dollars from dozens of investors.

Jason D. Bullard, 59, of Shakopee, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after pleading guilty to wire fraud in connection with the scheme that cheated investors out of more than $3 million from 2014 to 2021.

Judge Katherine Menendez's sentence of 4 ¹⁄₄ years in prison includes an order that Bullard repay what he stole from his victims.

In a court filing before the sentencing, prosecutors had argued for Bullard to receive a five-year prison term.

Many of the investors, some of them Bullard's friends, "suffered life-altering consequences," the filing read, "from the loss of a child's educational savings, delaying or foregoing a planned home purchase [to] one of the people who trusted Bullard to resorting to selling personal property in order to heat their house."

The defense, seeking a much lighter sentence, argued that Bullard has already been seriously punished by "media articles eviscerating him over his misconduct" along with the consequences of being a convicted felon and the order that he make restitution.

Shortly before the scheme came to an end, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Bullard and his wife, 51-year-old Angela Romero-Bullard, alleging their fraudulent investment business operated from 2007 to 2021 and bilked investors out of $18 million.

According to the SEC suit, the Bullards told investors they could earn 10% to 12% annually by investing in two family-controlled funds used to trade foreign currencies. However, the SEC said, Jason Bullard had "not traded foreign currencies with investor funds since approximately 2015."

Instead, the agency alleged, the Bullards used most of the money to keep the Ponzi scheme running or for personal uses, including making car payments and covering other living expenses. They also used some of the funds for their racing business and other unrelated ventures, including DLJ Real Estate LLC and Empire Investments LLC, the SEC said.

Bullard admitted to the allegations leveled by the SEC in what is called a consent decree, said attorney Jeff Smith, who involved in the legal effort to recoup victims' money.

The Bullards' Empire Racing Stables LLC was at one time a 24-horse operation that was one of the top winners at Canterbury Park — until the state Racing Commission suspended its license in September 2021.

Empire's horses won 23 races in 2021 and collected $366,425 in purse earnings, ranking second among all owners, according to course officials. In 2019, Empire shared the top ranking, with 32 wins and earnings of $471,088.

Over the course of the alleged scheme, Bullard in 2015 bought a 6,000-square-foot house on 1.6 acres off the southeastern shore of O'Dowd Lake for roughly $675,000, according to Scott County property records. In 2022, it had an assessed market value of more than $950,000.

In addition to their racing business, the Bullards operated Nite Trane Transportation, which offered limousine, party bus and airport transportation in the Twin Cities, according to Canterbury Park officials. Angela Romero-Bullard also owned a fitness center, the SEC said in its complaint.