Flathead District Judge Robert Allison has frozen the bank accounts of a Bigfork man who state authorities believe may have executed an illegal investment Ponzi scheme worth $2.7 million.

On Wednesday Allison temporarily froze the accounts of John Kevin Moore and accounts affiliated with Big Sky Mineral Resources LLC., Haystack Landmark Enterprises LLC., USA Fightwear LLC and Glacier Gala.

According to an affidavit filed by Montana Deputy Securities Commissioner Lynne Egan, the Montana Commissioner of Insurance and Securities began investigating Moore in May, after receiving four complaints from people who believed that malfeasance might have occurred within Big Sky Mineral Resources.

After examining Moore’s bank accounts, Egan found that 36 investors had allegedly given Moore at least $2.7 million.

“Upon receipt of investment proceeds from investors, Moore typically withdrew a portion of the proceeds from the local Rosauer’s supermarket in the form of ATM withdrawals and checks,” Egan wrote.

“Another portion of that money went to pay previous investors. Still another portion of that money went to pay Moore’s own mortgages. Yet another portion went to purchase art for his homes and new vehicles for himself. Still another portion went to pay overdraft fees from his ATM and other cash withdrawals.”

The investigation found that Moore allegedly paid out $886,600 to investors, but also made many payments to himself, including $163,500 for mortgage escrow services, $127,600 for a mortgage for one home on Black Bear Lane in Bigfork and $116,950 for another mortgage on a home on Lindley Court in Bigfork. There were other sources of income coming into the accounts and other expenditures. Court documents claim that $3.347 million went into the personal accounts, and $3.348 million went out of the accounts during an unspecified time frame.

The investigation also found that Moore allegedly never gave his investors into Big Sky Mineral Resources a prospectus, but did give them a listing of Montana mineral leases he claimed were controlled or owned by the company.

“The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation determined neither BSMR nor Moore had any mineral resources on state property,” Egan wrote.

Moore did not comment on Thursday and referred calls to his attorney Sean Hinchey. In an email, Hinchey offered a brief defense for Moore.

“We dispute much of what was represented by the State Auditor’s Office and look forward to providing testimony and evidence at the restraining order hearing,” Hinchey said in the email. “For example, there are valid oil and gas leases in place properly registered with the county in which they are located,” although apparently not on state land. Moore told the Associated Press on Thursday that he has oil leases registered in Lewis and Clark County.

Hinchey was unavailable for further comment.

The bank transactions listed in the state’s affidavit include a $450,000 payment from Moore’s accounts to Summit Oil. The Big Sky Mineral Resources website includes documents showing Summit West Oil transferred interest in about 60,000 acres of oil leases to Big Sky Mineral Resources in September 2014. Lewis and Clark County recorded the transfer in June 2015, according to the county website.

A hearing to extend the temporary freeze of assets is set for Sept. 30 in Flathead District Court. In addition to being investigated by state authorities, Moore was served by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the notice of the asset freeze.

According to court documents, Moore has a long history of questionable investment schemes and high-profile brushes with the law.

Moore was convicted of federal felony mail fraud in May 2003 for portraying himself as a licensed hunting guide when he mailed Texas hunters an illegally killed bull elk from Meagher County in 1998. At the time of the kill, Moore was not a licensed guide and did not inform the hunter or state officials that the bull had been illegally killed.

In that case, Moore was originally convicted by a jury of violating the Lacey Act, which bans the illegal trafficking of wildlife, but an appeals court overturned the conviction because it found Moore did not have enough knowledge of the elements of the poaching to make the conviction stick.

In 2005 Moore had his federal probation on the mail-fraud conviction revoked by U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell.

“Part of his modus operandi seems to be ingratiating himself with substantial people in the community who vouch for him when needed,” Lovell wrote in the sentencing documents. “The court finds that the defendant is dangerous to the money and property of others and that protection of the public requires that defendant Moore be ... incarcerated.”

Moore was ordered to serve a year in prison for the revocation after he was found to have bank accounts in Kalispell and Glasgow that he passed $500,000 through, without notifying his probation officer as required. He also hadn’t kept up on his federal taxes as required and had acted as a hunting guide without permission, all of which were violations of his probation.

Moore had also been convicted previously in the late 1980s for defrauding someone out of $75,000 in a gold coin scheme. He was also involved in a 1985 case in which he acted as an art dealer for Bitterroot Fine Arts in Stevensville and allegedly defrauded a former University of Arizona neurosurgeon out of $312,000 for paintings.

The asset freeze is the second in the Flathead Valley in the past six months. The assets of Columbia Falls assistant basketball coach Catherine Finberg were frozen in April, and authorities charged her earlier this month in state court with six felonies for allegedly running a $1.5 million Ponzi scheme.

A spokesperson for the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance Office, Sanjay Talwani, said he could not speak specifically about any particular case, but that the office does urge people to report investment opportunities that don’t sound legitimate.

“We can at least tell people what kind of red flags to look for,” Talwani said. “If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.”

People can call the office at 800-332-6148 to check if a securities broker is registered. While the office does not give out specific investment advice, it can give out valuable information to help people make their own decisions about where to invest their money.

“If people have any concerns about an investment, they should call our office,” Talwani said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.