Crystal Lake lawyer’s license suspended for 2 years for $140K crypto scam, authorities say

A Crystal Lake lawyer who is a former McHenry County prosecutor defrauded investors out of about $140,000 in a cryptocurrency scam, according to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and federal prosecutors.

The law license of Brendan Michael Pierard, 41, has been suspended by the Illinois Supreme Court for two years or “until further order of the court and until he repays” his investors, according to an announcement of the court’s order entered this month.

Pierard, licensed in 2016, is remorseful and admitted to the allegations against him before entering into a deferred prosecution agreement with federal authorities, the court said.

“He engaged in multiple acts of deceit over five years and committed wire fraud in connection with a cryptocurrency scam,” the court ruled.

Pierard was hired by the state’s attorneys office in the criminal division Jan. 31, 2022, and placed on leave March 14, 2023, “when the office learned of the investigation,” McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese said. “[Pierard] was terminated on April 3, 2023.”

Documents filed with the ARDC and by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2023 said Pierard began investing in cryptocurrency in 2017 with his own money and soon after, in September 2017, began accepting funds from 21 investors who were friends and family. At no time was he licensed or registered with any state or federal authority as an investment adviser or commodity pool operator, which he admitted to, according to the ARDC complaint.

He continued to accept and invest funds until 2019 in various products, including bitcoin and Ethereum, and applications such as Coinbase, BitMEX and Kraken, according to ARDC and federal prosecutors’ filings. Pierard admitted to accepting $139,500 in investment money, although he said he did not solicit or ask for the money, according to the official documents.

Pierard “knowingly devised, intended to devise and participated in a scheme to defraud, and to obtain and retain money by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in its criminal information filing. “It was further part of the scheme that, when investor-victims sought to withdraw their purported gains and investment principal from [the] defendant’s control, [the] defendant ignored their requests and knowingly made false and fraudulent statements that purported to explain his inability to return their funds.”

According to the ARDC complaint, Pierard did not separate his funds from his investors’ funds or keep an accounting system to track the receipt of funds from his investors or the performance of their investments on his behalf. His investments “became increasingly unprofitable, and by 2020, he had lost the entire $139,500,” according to the ARDC.

Instead of telling investors that he lost their money, he lied and said the trades “were profitable and provided [them] with false account balances,” the ARDC wrote.

In November 2023, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois charged Pierard with wire fraud, according to the complaint. According to the ARDC, officials agreed to “dismiss the pending charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and charged the attorney with one count of misprision of felony.”

ARDC and U.S. Attorney’s Office records indicate that federal prosecutors agreed to defer prosecution for 18 months, meaning the charge will be dropped if Pierard pays restitution, shows “good conduct” and meets other criteria.

At the time of the deferred prosecution agreement, in January 2024, Pierard had already paid back $15,000 to his victims and owed $124,500, according to a petition to impose discipline filed by the Illinois Supreme Court in December. As of December, he had paid an additional $12,400 in restitution, according to the petition.

Before working in the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, Pierard worked as a clerk for Judge Robert Marsaglia, who previously served in the Illinois 13th Judicial Circuit Court, which covers Bureau, Grundy and La Salle counties, according to a news release.

While working in the role as part of a fellowship program, Pierard oversaw the legal compliance of multiple companies and ran his own general practice. He has served as general counsel for a boutique investment firm, according to the release.

Attempts to reach Pierard for comment were unsuccessful.