The Wolf of West Virginia Pleads Guilty

From the U.S. Department of Justice

The “Wolf of West Virginia” Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud

Defendant Deceived Investors with Social Media Persona

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Theodore Miller, 35, of South Charleston, pleaded guilty today to two counts of wire fraud. Miller admitted to defrauding more than 170 individuals through two real estate-related investment schemes that caused losses of between $395,000 and $434,501.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Miller conceived and perpetrated the two fraudulent schemes between the spring of 2022 and September 2024. One scheme solicited direct investments to develop modern residential duplexes and a dry-storage lot on Bigley Avenue in Charleston. The other scheme offered a pooled real estate investment vehicle dubbed “Bear Lute.”

To carry out these schemes, Miller portrayed himself on social media as the “Wolf of West Virginia,” a wealthy, successful and knowledgeable real estate mogul with enough disposable income to travel the world at his leisure. As part of his guilty pleas, Miller admitted that in reality, he had poor credit, thin month-to-month financial margins, was delinquent on property taxes and bills, and defaulted on loans.

In each scheme, Miller made multiple misrepresentations to investors. These misrepresentations included that individuals would receive returns on their investments, that their investments were secured by real property, and that they could withdraw their investments. As part of his guilty pleas, Miller admitted that there were no returns on investments, that he never owned the real property he identified as security for the investments, and that he used the money from his fraud schemes to pay unrelated expenses, debts and obligations.

Miller’s victims included an individual who wired $20,000 to Miller from California for the storage lot project on July 5, 2022, and an individual who wired $2,500 to Miller from Texas for Bear Lute on December 12, 2022.

The money from the schemes was deposited into bank accounts for several entities Miller solely owned and operated including Bear Industries LLC, which initially served as an umbrella entity for the related businesses. Miller’s mother, Deanna Drumm, served as vice president of operations for Bear Industries from in or around 2019 to September 2024. While Miller lived outside the United States from in or about June  2021 to on or about August 8, 2024, he directed his mother to handle the day-to-day operational tasks for the Bear entities including the management of finances and transfer of funds.

Drumm, 61, of Charleston, pleaded guilty on November 21, 2024, to aiding and abetting the sale and offer of unregistered securities. Both the direct investments and the Bear Lute investments were securities as defined by federal law, offered through interstate commerce via the internet, and were required to be registered. Drumm admitted that no registration statement was in effect for either of these securities, and that neither was exempt from the registration requirement. Drumm further admitted that she aided and abetted the offering of these unregistered securities in the course of her duties as vice president of operations for Bear Industries. Drumm is scheduled to be sentenced on May 29, 2025.

In September 2022, the West Virginia Securities Commission issued a cease-and-desist letter to Bear Industries ordering it to stop the unregistered sale and offering of securities in Bear Lute. In November 2022, the West Virginia Securities Commission issued a cease-and-desist order regarding the same. Miller admitted that he continued to operate Bear Lute in violation of the order and never disclosed the order to his investors.

On August 9, 2024, law enforcement officers arrested Miller following his return to the United States. Miller admitted that he told his wife during a recorded jail phone call on August 11, 2024, to report his iPhone stolen to make it inaccessible to law enforcement and to hide a backpack containing his laptop computer. Miller further admitted that the laptop contained most of the documents related to the direct investments and Bear Lute.

Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on July 2, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a $500,000 fine. Miller also owes restitution of between $395,000 and $434,501, with the final amount to be determined by the Court.

Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the West Virginia Fusion Center, the West Virginia Securities Commission, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

United States District Judge Irene C. Berger presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorneys Holly Wilson and Joshua Hanks are prosecuting the case.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a parallel civil action against Miller, Bear Industries LLC, Bear Investments and Business Consulting LLC, and Drumm in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. The lawsuit alleges that Miller has engaged in the unregistered and fraudulent offer of securities related to his real estate-related investment programs since at least 2022, and that Miller’s social-media persona and businesses were all a calculated fraud to divert investor funds for his own personal benefit. The lawsuit seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 2:24-cr-145 and 2:24-cv-479.