San Angeleno Man Goes to Prison Over Investment Scams
Stanley Jonathan Fortenberry of Texas has been sentenced to 78 months behind bars for running two investment scams and bilking investors of about $900K. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and mail fraud in 2016. Now, Fortenberry must pay over $890K in restitution and forfeit more than $311K.
Fortenberry ran Premier Investment Fund and raised money for social media projects operated by another company. According to prosecutors, the Texas man misled investors about that company’s profitability and regarding what their money would be used for. He admitted to diverting about half of investors’ money to himself and to his fundraising operation.
Fortenberry also ran Wattenberg Energy Partners, a company that raised money for oil and glass drilling projects in Colorado. He admitted to establishing the company under his son’s name because the US Securities and Exchange Commission was already investigating him about the way Premier investors’ funds were being used.
Dallas Twins Get Four Year Prison Terms for Ponzi Scam
Texas twins Rodney Lee Wagner and Roger Harvey Wagner will pay almost $1.9M in restitution and serve four years each in federal prison for running a Ponzi scam. The two men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud last year.
The Dallas brothers are accused of soliciting funds from investors, who were told that the money would go toward foreign currency trading. In return, they were supposed to receive a fixed return rate in addition to interest. However according to prosecutors, the investors’ funds were used to pay earlier investors in Ponzi scam-like fashion.
DOJ Convicts Houston Couple for Bilking Bank
A federal jury has convicted Carlos Wydler and Leyla Wydler of conspiracy, false statements on credit applications, bank fraud, mail, fraud, and wire fraud. Leyla is a former mortgage broker and her husband, Carlos, was VP of a bank in California.
Mrs. Wydler sent hundreds of applications for high credit lines to Mr. Wydler for approval. The majority of the applications included bogus income data and doctored documents that included supposed information about the borrowers’ income, employment, and assets. Mr. Wydler would approve the applications and then cash advance the whole credit line through a wire transfer or with a check. Meantime, his wife made commissions on the loan proceeds.
Mr. Wydler approved an additional $600K in unauthorized loans to family members while Mrs. Wydler made over $1.4M. Many of the loans have since defaulted, causing the bank to lose over $8M.
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Jury Convicts Former Banker and Mortgage Broker of Defrauding California Bank, DOJ, March 8, 2017
West Texan gets 6½ years in prison for securities fraud, AP News, March 3, 2017