Has one of Weber County's best-known white-collar bandits gone straight, working as just another wage slave and occasional motivational speaker? Wayne Ogden wouldn't say.
Contacted about his involvement with an online real-estate training firm linked to a corporate motivational service, Ogden declined to comment, media-shy from his past notoriety.
Ogden is billed as an inspirational speaker with Upware LLC, a company with a Layton connection, according to some web and e-mail links.
Its online ad states Ogden can offer insight as an individual "almost beaten by life's challenges ... but now succeeding."
Upware officials could not be reached directly for comment.
The seminars given by Ogden and a registered nurse based in Phoenix, according to the ad, will "lift and inspire your sales team, business associates, partners and everyone else that listens in."
The cost is $1,800 per two-hour seminar, with a $500 deposit required at scheduling and $1,300 due on presentation, according to the ad.
Upware also offers training and recruitment of real-estate agents for real-estate companies.
One Ogden-area realty agent, Diana Noall, was the recipient of an e-mail query offering the training service online, followed up by phone calls from Ogden himself.
"He didn't remember me," Noall said, noting they'd met in 1986 and 1994 when Ogden was a top-selling local real-estate agent before his legal troubles and a short prison term.
"He's a very charismatic person, just a great personality if you don't know about his charges."
Calls to a Salt Lake City Realtor associated with the online sales pitches Noall received were answered with a short e-mail from Upware.
It said Ogden has worked for Upware for two years "in product sales and the marketing of products, people and companies. Mr. Ogden's primary responsibility is recruiter and headhunter for various different firms. Any allegations that suggest that Mr. Ogden is directly affiliated with, employed by or has any ownership interest in any real estate brokerage is false."
It concludes by referring any additional questions to Ogden's court-appointed attorney, who is defending him against fraud charges pending in federal court in Salt Lake City since December 2007.
Ogden served nearly three years in Utah State Prison on fraud charges for a 1997 real-estate development project investigators said turned into a Ponzi scheme.
About 500 investors were bilked of funds, totaling approximately $7 million, according to court records.
With the interest clock ticking, the latest figures from Utah State Department of Corrections released earlier this year show the total restitution Ogden owes at more than $9.2 million.
The federal charges involve allegations of another real-estate project Ogden led the fundraising for in Salt Lake County that took several dozen investors for several million in 2003.
Trial is still pending in the case, which has grown mysterious with sealed motions filed of late and a status conference set for Dec. 20 before Judge Clark Waddoups.
Ogden's pretrial release conditions at one time confined him to living with his parents in Sevier County and wearing an electronic ankle monitor, banned use of a cell phone or the Internet, and even long-distance phone calls, conditions that have been lifted for the most part as years passed.
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