A Hockey Dad, a Cartel, and a $12 Million Fraud

The Deception Begins

Eric Perardi’s life changed on a mild October morning in 2022 at a restaurant in Austin, Texas. He met his friend, Kota Youngblood, who claimed to have devastating news: Youngblood’s son, Eventine, had been murdered by a cartel in Mexico. Youngblood, a man Perardi trusted as a military veteran and confidant, claimed the cartel had also targeted Perardi and his family. The only way to ensure their safety, Youngblood insisted, was for Perardi to provide $70,000.

This encounter was the culmination of a year-long campaign of psychological manipulation. Perardi, a successful businessman, had been living in a state of constant fear, sleeping with a gun by his bed, believing he was under threat from a cartel that existed only in Youngblood’s elaborate lies.

A Decade of Deceit

In mid-2023, FBI agents Lindsey Wilkinson and Justin Noble finally unraveled the truth. Youngblood was not a Delta Force operative or a government insider; he was a career con artist named Dennis Schuler Jr. from Ohio. Over the course of a decade, he had swindled more than 30 victims out of approximately $12 million.

Youngblood’s method was chillingly effective. He embedded himself in suburban communities, such as local ice-hockey clubs, presenting himself as an alpha-male dad with a mysterious, heroic past. He studied his victims, identifying their anxieties and loyalties, and then slowly converted those friendships into total obedience.

“I was [investing] because of my sense of honor,” says a victim, “helping a friend, because that’s what i do.”

The Clock Collectors and the Cartel Narrative

Youngblood’s reach extended beyond the hockey rink. He infiltrated a circle of clock collectors, including James Holloway, a respected evaluator in central Texas. By posing as a wealthy businessman with access to rare antiques, Youngblood convinced Holloway and his friends to invest their retirement savings into fraudulent deals. When the money ran dry, he pivoted to the cartel narrative, claiming the families of his victims were in grave danger to extort even more cash.

The scheme was so pervasive that it even turned family members against one another. Youngblood convinced Lane Holloway, James’s son, that his own father was a dangerous criminal, leading Lane to quit his job, change his name, and go into hiding with his family, all while being manipulated into participating in a smear campaign against other victims.

The Downfall

The con finally crumbled when Perardi discovered that a Civil War-era flag Youngblood had given him as collateral was a fake. After contacting the original owner, Perardi realized he was being extorted and approached the FBI. The subsequent investigation revealed that Youngblood had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his victims’ money gambling at slot machines in Las Vegas, often while maintaining his facade of a stoic, military-trained professional.

In April 2024, Youngblood was found guilty on four counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Judge Robert Pitman, who presided over the case, described the scheme as a “sick psychological need to see other people suffer.” For his victims, the financial ruin and emotional trauma remain, as they continue to grapple with the reality of the man they once called their best friend.