Santiago Garcia Gutierrez, 48, of Salt Lake City, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for orchestrating a complex $3.5 million fraud scheme involving wire fraud, impersonating a federal officer, aggravated identity theft, and making false statements, officials announced Thursday.
From 2018 to 2020, Garcia posed as a Homeland Security informant, federal agent, and even his own attorney to convince a victim to send him over $2.8 million for supposedly discounted government-seized luxury assets—cars, planes, and yachts that never existed.
From 2019 to 2024, Garcia defrauded eight more victims nationwide, falsely claiming to own federal oil wells and promising significant returns.
Instead, he pocketed more than $900,000, failing to pay the required royalties to the federal government.
In addition to prison time, U.S. District Judge Howard C. Nielson Jr. ordered Garcia to pay $3.79 million in restitution and forfeit nearly $2.85 million.
The IRS and the Environmental Protection Agency investigated the case.