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Tag: Ponzi scheme sentences

  • BULLETIN: Appeals Court Upholds Federal Judge Who Departed From Sentencing Guidelines And Prosecution’s Recommendation — And Imposed Maximum Prison Term On Louisiana Ponzi Schemer

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has unanimously upheld the 30-year sentence imposed last year on Ponzi schemer Matthew B. Pizzolato by U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

    Although Pizzolato had worked out a plea deal with prosecutors that included a nonbinding recommendation for Pizzolato to serve a maximum term of about 15 and a half years, Africk disregarded the recommendation and ordered an upward departure from federal sentencing guidelines  — effectively doubling the term prosecutors had sought.

    Africk reasoned that Pizzolato’s $19.5 million Ponzi had subjected senior citizens and other vulnerable members of society to severe and ongoing harm, telling Pizzolato in open court that his fraud was one in which “a lot of people of modest means lost everything.”

    Written words on “cold” court documents “will never reflect the depth of pain” of the victims, Africk told Pizzolato.

    “In particularly despicable fashion, many of your victims were the most susceptible members of our society; all looked forward to some modest degree of comfort during their golden years,” Africk said.

    “Weaving a web of deception and practicing predatory acts, you ruthlessly pounced on some of our most vulnerable citizens. You falsely represented yourself to be an attorney. These people trusted you with their life savings and you, in turn, devastated them. You stole savings desperately needed by these fine people to achieve the most basic needs of their life. Worrying that these needs will go unmet, many of our victims fear they will never recover from their loss. I feel the same.”

    In sentencing Pizzolato to the 30-year maximum, Africk rejected the convicted swindler’s claims that he was an unsophisticated, 26-year-old man. The judge also considered the psychological damage suffered by victims, the number of victims (180), the reach and complexity of the scheme and the duration of the scheme (three years).

    Africk remarked that he had “never seen a fraud-based crime more horrendous than the one” Pizzolato engineered, according to court records.

  • BULLETIN: California Man Sentenced To 90 Years In Prison For Fleecing Elderly Investors In Ponzi Scheme

    BULLETIN: Convicted Ponzi swindler Jeffrey Gordon Butler has been sentenced to 90 years and eight months in a California state prison.

    Butler, 51, of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., was convicted in June 2009 of 693 felony counts, including making untrue statements of material fact in the offer and sale of securities, the offer and sale of unqualified securities, theft from elderly persons, using a scheme to defraud in the sale of a security and filing false tax returns.

    Butler’s wife, Peggy Warmath Butler, 49, was convicted of four felony counts of filing false tax returns. She was sentenced today to one year in jail, followed by seven years’ formal probation.

    Orange County prosecutors objected to her sentence, saying it was too light.

    So many Ponzi victims testified in the sentencing phase of the trial that the process took four days to complete and was interrupted by the holidays. Because so many victims were nearing the end of their life spans, prosecutors recorded their statements on videotape prior to the trial and played them at the sentencing.

    At least six victims died during the course of the trial, and 52 victims died prior to the case being brought before the jury.

    “Many of Jeffrey Butler’s victims had trouble believing that he was capable of stealing their life’s savings,” said Tony Rackauckas, Orange County District Attorney. “He stole more than money from the people who trusted him. Jeffrey Butler also stole his victims’ dignity, independence, and dreams

    “By sentencing him to 90 years in prison it means that Jeffrey Butler will spend the rest of his life in prison unable to victimize another person,” Rackauckas said.

    See Dec. 16 story.