BULLETIN: California Woman Pleads Guilty In ‘Christian Rock Concerts’ Ponzi Scheme; Recidivist Swindler Lauren Baumann Used Money From Latest Scam To Pay $10,000-A-Month Mansion Rent, Prosecutors Say

BULLETIN: A California woman has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a Ponzi scheme in which investors were falsely told their money was being used to fund “Christian rock concerts” and to flip real estate at a profit.

Lauren Baumann, 43, of Downey, was a recidivist  huckster who failed to disclose she’d been sued for fraud by the SEC in 1998 and convicted in Texas of securities fraud in 1999 in a criminal case that evolved from the SEC probe. The 1990s-era caper gathered about $5 million, and the scam targeted at Christian music fans that would follow later netted about $1 million.

Investors in the rock-concert scam were told their money would be used to finance “battle of the bands” events that would feature “Christian rock bands and other music groups that would generate profits from ticket sales and company sponsorships,” the office of U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California said this afternoon.

The scheme operated through a company known as Stewardship Estates LLC, prosecutors said.

“Baumann also used investor funds to pay approximately $10,000 a month to rent a historic mansion in Downey and to pay private school tuition for her children, among other personal expenses,” prosecutors said.

Although some of the investors got paid, the money they received was Ponzi proceeds. All in all, the scam sucked in more than two dozen investors and caused at least $560,000 in losses, prosecutors said.

Baumann faces up to 20 years in federal prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Josephine S. Tucker on Dec. 12. The FBI handled the criminal probe in Baumann’s latest swindle.