{"id":10013,"date":"2015-03-13T11:56:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T18:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=10013"},"modified":"2015-03-13T11:56:27","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T18:56:27","slug":"conman-who-swindled-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-sentenced-to-22-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=10013","title":{"rendered":"Conman Who Swindled Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Sentenced to 22 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BROOKLYN-FEDERAL-COURT\"<\/a>BROOKLYN<\/strong> – A conman who spent millions of dollars stolen from victims on fishing and hunting trips, remodeling and landscaping his new house, three Harley-Davidson motorcycles and other things was sentenced in federal court on Thursday to 21 years and 10 months in prison, officials announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

William C. Lange<\/strong>, the founder of Harbor Funding Group, Inc.<\/strong> and Black Sand Mine, Inc<\/strong>., stole more than $9 million from about 300 people through an advance fee scheme and almost $1 million through an Alaskan gold mine investment scheme, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Lange, 67, plead guilty in September to\u00a0two counts charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud for his leadership role in defrauding developers and their clients in areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina of more than $9 million through an advance fee scheme and \u00a0investors of almost $1 million through an Alaskan gold mine investment scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWilliam Lange was a con man who stole more than $9 million from people looking to rebuild areas of the country that had been ravaged by the destructive force of Hurricane Katrina. He enticed his victims by promising financing through the use of loan documents and escrow agreements that were not worth the price of the paper used to print them.” said U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lange, of Gig Harbor, Washington \u00a0orchestrator of the advance fee scheme, told land developers and their clients seeking to rebuild areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina that Harbor Funding Group had lenders and millions of dollars in funds available to provide financing for their real estate projects.<\/p>\n

As a condition for financing, Harbor Funding Group required investors to place ten percent of the loan amount in an attorney escrow account. Contrary to Lange\u2019s representations, Harbor Funding Group did not have lenders or funds available to finance the loans, according to officials.<\/p>\n

As soon as the money was placed in escrow, Lange and his co-conspirators stole it, at times through the use of a sham escrow agreement.<\/p>\n

After the $9 million was spent, Lange and his co-conspirators moved on to Black Sand Mine and the gold mine investment scheme.<\/p>\n

Officials said Black Sand Mine claimed that it would mine gold and other precious metals on Sitkinak Island in Alaska.<\/p>\n

Through the use of in-person presentations, cold calls, and \u201cwebinars,\u201d Lange and his co-conspirators convinced investors to purchase Black Sand Mine stock.<\/p>\n

He did this by lying to them about the credentials of Black Sand Mine’s officers and directors, its assets and liabilities, the intended use of investor funds, and by concealing their prior involvement in Harbor Funding Group, officials said.<\/p>\n

Lange also concealed his own tarnished name and his leadership role in Black Sand Mine.<\/p>\n

Almost $1 million collected from investors in BSMI was spent on salaries and other personal expenses for Lange and his co-conspirators, officials said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BROOKLYN – A conman who spent millions of dollars stolen from victims on fishing and hunting trips, remodeling and landscaping his new house, three Harley-Davidson motorcycles and other things was sentenced in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[473],"class_list":["post-10013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-fraud"],"yoast_head":"\nConman Who Swindled Hundreds Sentenced to 22 Years<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A conman who swindled hundreds of millions of dollars was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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