PHILADELPHIA, PA — A Lancaster County businessman pleaded guilty Monday to securities fraud in a yearslong investment scheme that raised about $770 million and left investors with approximately $402 million in unpaid principal, according to federal prosecutors and admissions made as part of his plea.
Daryl F. Heller, 56, of Lititz, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Catherine Henry in Philadelphia. He is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 1 and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $5 million fine.
Heller controlled several Lancaster-based companies, including Paramount Management Group LLC, Heller Capital Group LLC and Prestige Investment Group LLC. Paramount bought, installed and operated automatic teller machines and cryptocurrency teller machines.
According to court filings and Heller’s admissions, he solicited or caused others to solicit about $770 million from investors in Prestige and WF Velocity ATM funds between January 2017 and December 2024.
Investors were told their money would be used by Paramount to purchase and operate ATMs and cryptocurrency teller machines on their behalf, with revenue from those machines funding monthly payments for approximately six to seven years.
Instead, a substantial portion of the investor money was used to make payments owed to earlier investors, cover Heller’s personal expenses, and pay business debts at Paramount and other companies he controlled, according to court filings and his admissions.
Thousands of machines purportedly purchased for investors either did not exist or were not operating and therefore could not generate the promised revenue, prosecutors reported.
Heller also admitted creating false records that substantially inflated the number of ATMs and cryptocurrency teller machines in Paramount’s network and overstated the revenue they generated. Those records were used to reassure existing investors, attract new investors and represent that the machines were producing enough revenue to fund investor payments.
Paramount stopped making monthly investor payments around April 2024 after the Prestige and WF Velocity ATM funds stopped supplying substantial amounts of new investor money, according to court filings. Investors received no further payments despite promises through December 2024 that payments would resume or their investments would be bought out.
Paramount went out of business around December 2024. Investors were left with approximately $402 million in unpaid principal.
Heller was indicted in August 2025 and has now pleaded guilty to securities fraud. Restitution will be ordered in an amount to be determined by the court, while forfeiture of proceeds from the offense may also be imposed.
The FBI investigated the case, with assistance from the Lancaster County Police Department, Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, East Hempfield Township Police Department and Pequea Township Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Francis A. Weber and J. Andrew Jenemann are prosecuting the case.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed separate civil charges against Heller in September 2025. Those charges remain pending.
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