Wausau man with local ties charged with $15 million investment fraud scheme

A Wausau man who previously owned a cell phone business on Merrill’s east side near McDonald’s has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an alleged $15 million investment scheme.
Stanley Pophal, 63, was arrested Saturday, June 14, 2025, and made his initial appearance in federal court on Monday, June 16, where he was detained pending further proceedings. Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced the unsealing of the criminal complaint.
According to the criminal complaint, Pophal used a variety of techniques to lure investors beginning in 2019, all designed to convey his wealth and business success. He solicited investors to purchase promissory notes with supposedly guaranteed rates of return, falsely representing himself as a wealthy businessman.
The affadavit for the complaint alleges Pophal claimed he created and sold car wash dryers, said he was related to the founders of the infamous Hamburg Fromm Brothers Fur and Ginseng Farm, and claimed association with the Fromm Pet Food Company. He also told investors he would use some of their money to develop apartments.
Allegedly Pophal claimed to be a millionaire or billionaire, but the affidavit said he hasn’t held a job since 2010.
Between May 2019 and March 2025, Pophal received more than $15 million from at least 120 investors. However, prosecutors allege he did not actually invest the majority of the money. Instead, he used it to fund an extravagant lifestyle, purchasing over 300 snowmobiles in addition to motocross bikes and race cars.
To keep the fraud scheme going, Pophal allegedly used new investor money to make “lulling payments” to previous investors to make it appear they were earning investment returns.
The charges result from an investigation conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Wegner is handling the prosecution.
A charge is merely an accusation, and a person named as defendant in a criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.