Comstock Scam Figure Faces Fraud Charges

A former Orange County businessman and missionary who allegedly bilked $1.8 million from members of an Arkansas church after preaching to them from the church’s pulpit has been indicted for fraud by a grand jury in Little Rock, Ark., authorities said Tuesday.

The indictment of Abraham R. Boldt, 57, of Walnut comes nearly two years after authorities began investigating him in connection with a 1984 appearance at the New Covenant Community Church in which he allegedly solicited investors by promising them annual returns of up to 36%.

Boldt allegedly said that the money would be invested in a Marshall Islands bank he owned. Investigators have claimed that the bank was a fraud and had no assets. Authorities said they don’t know of Boldt’s current whereabouts.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has previously accused Boldt of being a key accomplice in an investment scam operated by Comstock Financial Services, a defunct Universal City investment company that investigators say bilked as much as $5 million from more than 500 investors. The company’s former chairman, Roy L. Comstock, 48, was sentenced in August to four years in state prison for violating corporate securities laws.