Claud Roderick "Rick" Koerber (born Claud Roderick Franklin 1973, Casper, WY) is an American convicted felon who was found guilty in federal court of orchestrating and running a $100 million Ponzi scheme, one of the largest in Utah's history.
[11] Koerber's scheme was built around his concept of "equity mill": he used a series of shell companies to buy and sell residential properties to and from would-be investors.
[14] Koerber's scheme was exposed during the 2007–2008 collapse of the United States housing bubble when residential property values dropped sharply, in conjunction with a broader economic crisis, and he was unable to make promised payments to investors.
On January 21, 2016, the court found that Waddoups failed to consider the seriousness of the charges and Koerber's contributions in delaying the trial.
[24] On November 1, 2017, the United States Attorney's Office (District of Utah) announced plans to retry the case.
[25] Filmmaker Richard Dutcher testified about Koerber's $5 million funding of the 2009 erotic horror film Evil Angel while several of Koeber's investors testified they did not know or approve of their money to bankroll a film, which prosecutors characterized as typical of Koerber's dishonest practices.