The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the arrest of a former Department of Public Safety trooper wanted in connection with a $9 million fraud scheme, officials said.

According to a press release from the FBI Phoenix field office, 54-year-old Frederick Arias encouraged investors to invest in The Joseph project, promising a “safe and secure investment with guaranteed profits.”

FBI spokesperson Jill McCabe said The Joseph Project was a “non-existent humanitarian project Arias used to target Christian investors in order to further his fraud.”

Arias allegedly withdrew funds to pay personal expenses and wired funds overseas instead.

DPS officials said Arias worked as a trooper from 1987 until his retirement in 2008.

Arias was charged with conspiracy; fraudulent schemes and artifices; money laundering in the first degree; 10 counts of theft; two counts of illegal control of an enterprise; forgery; and fraudulent schemes by the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in June 2019. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

He was arrested in Kirkland, Washington, shortly after. Three days later, he was released from custody on bond, and then failed to appear for an extradition hearing, according to the press release.

A Washington court then charged Arias with failure to appear, and another warrant was issued for his arrest.

On March 19, 2020, Arias was charged federally with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona and a third warrant was issued for his arrest, the release said. 

Arias has ties to, or may visit, Canada, Norway, Australia, the Czech Republic, and the Dominican Republic, according to the press release. 

Anyone with information about this individual is asked to call the FBI’s Phoenix Field Office at 623-466-1999, their nearest FBI Office, American Embassy or Consulate.

Reach the reporter Jamie Landers at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jamielanderstv

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