A Weld County District Judge issued a bench warrant for the 63-year-old founder of a northern Colorado restaurant chain suspected of embezzling more than $3 million from investors after she failed to appear in court Tuesday morning.
Judge Vincente Vigil also revoked Annie Vick’s personal recognizance bond and set a new cash-only bond of $50,000. Vick is also known as Annie Margaret Velasquez.
Police say Vick solicited money from investors starting in 2018 — though she was not licensed to sell securities — without disclosing the risks involved or the losses she incurred. She also used part of the investments she solicited to repay prior investors, as well as to cover restaurant expenses, make credit card payments and other personal uses, according to an affidavit for her arrest.
After the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation in June 2020, police say Vick directed nearly $1 million of investors’ funds to her personal and restaurant accounts. She also solicited another $300,000 of investors’ money and misrepresented the status and nature of the investigation to potential investors, the affidavit stated.
Vick has denied embezzling the money, saying she never used investors’ money for anything other than investments. She also said her investors knew she was unlicensed and that they understood the risks, but encouraged her to invest for them anyway.
She faces 10 counts of securities fraud, according to Colorado court records.
Vick founded the Pinocchios chain of restaurants in 2003 in Longmont, eventually also opening a Loveland location and two in Greeley — Pinocchios Incredible Italian at 905 16th St. and Pinocchios Prime at 804 8th St. Both Greeley locations remain open.
The Longmont location remains open without Vick’s involvement in day-to-day operations and the Loveland location has been closed since before her February 2024 arrest.
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