Two Former Canopy Financial Co-Founders Sentenced for $75 Million Fraud

Two co-founders of Canopy Financial, Inc., a bankrupt health care transaction software company based here, have been sentenced to 15 and 13 years in prison for defrauding investors and clients of more than $93 million. Anthony Banas, Canopy’s chief technology officer, was sentenced today to 160 months in prison, while Jeremy Blackburn, Canopy’s former president and chief operating officer, was sentenced on Jan. 24 to 180 months in prison. Both men pleaded guilty in late 2010 to one count of wire fraud, admitting they engaged in a fraud scheme that cheated investors of approximately $75 million and also misappropriated more than $18 million from customer accounts intended for health care savings and expenses.

The sentences, imposed by U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo in Federal Court, were announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and James Vanderberg, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General in Chicago. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Chicago Regional Office assisted in the investigation.