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A Lee’s Summit man took $2.1 million from investors, which he used for sports gambling, among other things, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri was granted a temporary restraining order against Trevor Uhls, 29, according to court filings.
Under the restraining order, the Lee’s Summit resident is forbidden from many financial activities to preserve evidence of alleged wire fraud and money laundering violations, the lawsuit states.
Uhls is accused of operating a Ponzi scheme since September 2024, the affidavit detailed.
Saying they could invest in his uncle’s company, Uhls allegedly convinced victims to give him money to invest in what they thought were real estate developers buying land or renovating buildings. The suit said Uhls sent victims promissory notes, which were fake.
Uhls put the names of fake and shell companies on the promissory notes, in addition to his relative’s Kansas City contractor company - which never received money from Uhls, according to the affidavit.
Court filings detail one of the intended investors, identified as Victim #1. When Victim #1 met Uhls in 2025, he “presented himself as a successful businessman living a lavish lifestyle,” taking Victim #1 to see a college basketball game and fly on a private jet and to a college basketball game, records state.
Uhls told Victim #1 that if the victim invested in Uhl’s home flipping company, Uhls would double the initial investment, paid out in 10% amounts each month. The company did not exist, according to the court records.
Victim #1 invested around $70,000 and was paid back only $12,000.
The victims and Uhls allegedly communicated in a group chat called the Inner Circle, “which comprised of Uhls and a group of mostly ‘blue collar’ workers,” documents stated.
Out of the stolen $2.1 million, Uhls gambled more than $652,000 on sports wagers, the affidavit said. In addition to sports betting, Uhls spent the money on chartered planes, cryptocurrency exchange transactions and jewelry, according to court documents.
Uhls kept defrauding people into 2026, even after he was contacted by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in March and searched by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation in June, records state.
