Press Releases

For Immediate Release
February 20, 2009	Contact: Charles Evenson 608-266-2026

New Lisbon Resident Russell J. Badder Pleads Guilty To Four Counts of Mail and Wire Fraud

(Madison) On February 18, 2009, Russell J. Badder of New Lisbon plead guilty to two counts each of wire and mail fraud in federal district court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in Green Bay. Judge William C. Griesbach has ordered a pre-sentence investigation. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 13, 2009 at 1:30 p.m.

The charges arose from Badder’s actions in soliciting investments in a company he owned, Oshkosh Aircraft Parts, LLC (OAP). Badder solicited investments of over $500,000 from investors in Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Virginia, primarily so OAP could purchase crashed planes that it would strip and sell for parts. In one scenario, three separate investors each invested approximately $19,000 with Badder, who specifically told each investor their investment money would fund his winning $19,000 bid for the purchase of the same crashed plane. He never purchased the $19,000 crashed aircraft, but instead spent all the money on other business and personal expenses.

These personal expenditures included money associated with his involvement in Landmark Education, a personal development program where Badder served as a group leader teaching personal integrity.

Ten victims located in Dane, Milwaukee, Walworth, Waukesha and Winnebago counties lost at least $237,000.

The U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Wisconsin’s Green Bay office is prosecuting the case based upon a joint investigative effort by the Middleton Police Department, the Division of Securities of the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions, the Securities Division of the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.