West Des Moines Man Who Embezzled Millions in the 1980s Has Died

Former West Des Moines stockbroker and convicted embezzler Gary Lewellyn, who in the early 1980s defrauded two banks of $17.7 million in what at the time was the largest financial crime in state’s history, has died.

Lewellyn died Wednesday at age 63 in Oklahoma City, where he had been living, the Des Moines Register reported.

He served five years in prison for his crimes, which included embezzlement from the First Bank of Humboldt, where Lewellyn’s father was the president. He claimed in his trial that he was a compulsive gambler – and indeed, in 1982, he drove a yellow Rolls Royce to Las Vegas hoping he would win big and be able to pay back the money he’d stolen, the Register reported.

A colorful character in the annals of Iowa financial crimes, Lewellyn was a stockbroker in his early 30s at the time of his crimes. He led a double life, with a wife and children he was said to have been devoted to and a mistress he called his “pampered princess,” according to the Register.

During his incarceration and after his release, he appeared to be tryng to make amends for his crimes.

As a prisoner, he was said to have given prison authorities information that helped them solve a murder case involving a another inmate. He became a confidential FBI informant on a Chicago money-laundering scheme after his release from prison in 1987.

His post-release business, Performance Nutrition, was an immediate hit with professional athletes after a trainer for the Kansas City Chiefs introduced the non-steroid performance enhancers to his team.

His rise back to the top was short-lived. The company’s shareholders fired Lewellyn as chairman and CEO of Performance Nutrition in 1996 for “grossly overstated” revenues during his tenure and sued him. That was two years after the federal Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against the company for stock manipulation.

In addition to his wife Tamera of Oklahoma City, he is survived by his parents, Clifford and Lavon Lewellyn, of Humboldt. Funeral arrangements are pending at a Humboldt funeral home.