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HAMBURG — FBI agents raided a pair of multimillion-dollar homes owned by a young Cleveland businessman's financial company, hauling away computers, documents, furniture, cars and other belongings.
Dozens of agents swarmed the neighboring properties in Hamburg, just south of Buffalo, on Wednesday. The search took up most of the day, FBI spokesman Earl Gould said Thursday. Neither the FBI nor the U.S. attorney's office would say what was behind the raid.
"It's part of an ongoing investigation," Gould said, adding that the search warrant was sealed. "Depending on everything they've collected, there might be charges brought or there may not be."
The homes were purchased last year by Phantom Holdings One, one of several investment companies owned by 22-year-old Michael Wilson, for a total of $6.3 million. Those were the highest prices ever paid for homes in Erie County, which encompasses Buffalo.
Wilson, who runs his businesses out of Buffalo and Cleveland, lives in one of the homes and his mother lives in the other. They sit on 126 acres, surrounded by lawns, ponds and woods.
Robert Boreanaz, Wilson's lawyer, says he doesn't know of any wrongdoing by his client, who he described as a highly successful player in the financial investment field since his late teens. Wilson, who is single, never went to college, he said.
"He's brilliant," Boreanaz said. "He has most definitely got notice in the small circles he has worked in."
Because Wilson is in the financial business, it's logical to assume that's what the government is looking at, Boreanaz said.
"I think it's a case of some powerful, disgruntled investors that would like to see Wilson taken down. In some instances, they were not able to participate in Michael's success," he said. "We certainly intend to rigorously challenge any of the property that's taken from his home and business."
Boreanaz also suggested Wilson is drawing scrutiny simply because of where he lives.
In the Buffalo area, "people are not accustomed to seeing 22-year-olds amass that kind of power and wealth. But you go to New York, Florida, California, Las Vegas, and there are multiple people that age in that community."
A small fraction of Wilson's work is dealing with a small number of "very wealthy investors looking for high-risk, high-return investments," Boreanaz said. "The vast majority of what he does he does on his own."
A foreclosure action on Wilson's homes was filed in June.
Bruce Zeftel, a lawyer involved in the sale, said the "raid has nothing to do with the foreclosures." Wilson's company missed two $500,000 payments on the homes in May, Zeftel said. Typically, a foreclosure action stretches out for at least two to three months, he said.
