[ad_1]
SAN DIEGO (AP) – A San Diego businesswoman whose Ponzi scheme defrauded hundreds of people out of nearly $ 400 million was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison.
Gina Champion-Cain, 57, received more than the sentence recommended by prosecutors. Upon sentencing, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns noted that some of the victims were friends she had known for years, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
“It lasted for seven years. It wasn’t just foreigners hoping to get rich, ”Burns said. “It is a level of deception and betrayal that I was not fully aware of.”
Champion-Cain was best known for her now-closed Patio restaurant chain, but she also owned clothing and vacation rental businesses. The scheme involved Champion-Cain getting people to invest in a company – American National Investments – that allegedly provided high-interest loans to companies seeking liquor licenses in California.
Instead, some of the investment money was used to pay off previous investors in a classic Ponzi scheme, authorities said. Other funds went to support the failing Champion-Cain businesses, but millions more paid for a luxury lifestyle that included homes, cars, jewelry, and box seats for the San Diego games. Padres and Chargers, prosecutors said.
The scheme brought in at least $ 372 million to more than 490 investors, who lost at least $ 180 million, prosecutors said.
Champion-Cain pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice.
In a court statement, Champion-Cain said his primary goal was to collect money for his victims, although the judge said much of the money had been spent.
In a statement to a probation officer last year, Champion-Cain wrote that she intended the loan program to be legitimate, but it got out of hand and she began to “compose” deals, he said. reported the Union-Tribune.
“I always thought to myself that I might one day pay back those tickets with the massive growth of the empire I was trying to build,” she wrote.
Chicago Title, the escrow company Champion-Cain used to hold investor money it raised, has been sued by investors and has so far made deals with nearly 200 of them for over $ 60 million, said the Union-Tribune.
Crispin Torres, the former chief financial officer of American National Investments, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the scheme and was sentenced this month to four years in prison.
[ad_2]
Source link