Richard D. Westphal, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa
Richard D. Westphal, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa
A federal grand jury in Des Moines has indicted Martin James Tirrell, 65, on 11 counts of wire fraud. The indictment alleges that Tirrell orchestrated a scheme from February 2024 to January 2025, in which he solicited money from multiple individuals. He claimed the funds would be used to purchase tickets for popular sports and concert events, which would then be resold for profit. However, according to the indictment, Tirrell used most of the money for gambling, personal expenses, repaying loans, and paying earlier investors.
The total losses sustained by the investors reportedly exceed $1.5 million. Tirrell had previously been convicted of mail fraud in 2019 and was released from a 41-month prison sentence in January 2023. At the time of the alleged wire fraud scheme, he was on federal supervised release.
Tirrell appeared before a United States Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of Iowa on October 20, 2025. His trial is scheduled to begin on December 1, 2025. He will remain in federal custody until further proceedings.
United States Attorney David C. Waterman of the Southern District of Iowa announced the indictment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is handling the investigation.
"An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law."
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