CALIFORNIA, United States, January 6, 2010 - A 51-year-old man is set to spend the next 90 years of his life in jail for ripping off 125 elderly victims in a Ponzi scheme with links to the island of Grenada.
Jeffrey Gordon Butler was this week convicted of 693 felony counts in the fraud case involving more than US$11 million in investments and sentenced to 90 years.
Prosecutors had argued that Butler sold more than 300 promissory notes or stocks without getting a license from the state in a Ponzi scheme fraud. He then moved the money without telling his investors to a telecommunications company located in Grenada.
In a Ponzi scheme, investors are offered high, short-term returns, but instead of generating legitimate profits, the money is kept or used to repay earlier investors.
When the scheme ran out of money and he could not deliver on his promised pay outs, prosecutors claim that Butler then sent his victims a letter falsely claiming that Hurricane Ivan had delayed payments.
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