Guilty plea from man called 'serial financial predator'

Editor's note: This creep robbed money from the elderly.All the wonderful humanitarian work and good name his dad worked a lifetime to create was dashed by this misfit.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Guilty plea from man called 'serial financial predator'


By Cynthia Dizikes



2:28 PM CDT, October 3, 2012


For years, Kenneth Dachman financed an extravagant lifestyle — a mansion, vacations and cruises — by duping investors in his now-defunct sleep disorder business, according to federal authorities.



The investors alleged it was all part of the north suburban businessman's well-worn game plan: woo people to his startups, spend much of the money on himself, shirk responsibility by declaring bankruptcy to avoid paying off debts and then start all over again.



But Dachman, whose legal travails were the subject of a front page Tribune story in 2010, opted for a different approach Wednesday when he pleaded guilty to wire fraud related to the scam.



"I choose to admit my guilt to being accountable for soliciting money from investors on the premise and condition that the money would be directed to the startup and nurturing of the business (Central Sleep) when in fact the majority of the money went to my personal benefit," Dachman said in a plea declaration filed with the court.



In total, Dachman admitted he took about $700,000 in bonuses and fees above the reasonable salary.



Dachman’s guilty plea follows an indictment last year that alleged he spent at least half of the $4 million investment on a two-acre Lake Forest mansion, collecting rare books and antiques, gambling in Las Vegas and traveling abroad.



During the last three decades, Dachman was sued more than 50 times for a variety of alleged scams, accumulating at least seven bankruptcies and a string of angry investors who said they were hoodwinked by his offers of substantial returns.



At the time, an attorney for the investors dubbed Dachman “a serial financial predator.”



Federal authorities charged that Dachman exaggerated his credentials, falsely claiming he held a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, and padding the resumes of purported employees.



He portrayed his son-in-law as a marketing whiz when, in fact, he was a tattoo artist, authorities said. He also boasted that his business, Central Sleep Diagnostics, was “on pace to be the most important and largest sleep diagnostic firm in the world,” the indictment said.



According to the plea declaration, Dachman faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 in addition to restitution to the victims.



cdizikes@tribune.com





http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-guilty-plea-from-man-called-serial-financial-predator-20121003,0,3442421.story