BULLETIN: Edward May, 75, effectively has been sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating an elaborate Ponzi scheme that gathered about $350 million and fleeced 1,200 people. Many of his victims were fellow senior citizens, although May also altered the lives of younger victims.
Prosecutors described the May Ponzi as the largest in the history of the Eastern Michigan District.
U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow sentenced May today to 16 years after May’s April guilty plea to 59 counts of mail fraud. Prosecutors said May established as many as 150 LLCs to pull off the scheme, which operated for a decade. The SEC sued May in 2007.
One of May’s victims told prosecutors that he considered suicide after being bilked by May.
“Complex fraud schemes like this one rob investors of their savings and erode public confidence in legitimate investments,” said U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan. “This loss of public confidence in investment opportunities, in turn, depresses our economy. By prosecuting those who commit fraud, we hope to deter others from committing similar crimes.”
May falsely traded on the name of Hilton Hotel Corp., MGM-Mirage Resorts Inc., the MGM Grand Hotel, Motel 6, the Tropicana Resort Casino and the Sheraton Hotels chain as part of the fraud, according to court filings. He also claimed that he was supplying telecommunications services through a purported “Norwegian” company.
In an often-heard refrain in the Ponzi world, May went into excuse-making mode when his caper collapsed, claiming payments to investors were delayed because of the company’s growing pains.