{"id":14980,"date":"2015-08-24T18:58:04","date_gmt":"2015-08-25T01:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980"},"modified":"2015-08-24T18:58:04","modified_gmt":"2015-08-25T01:58:04","slug":"ponzi-scheme-con-man-admits-duping-240-investors-out-of-10-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980","title":{"rendered":"Ponzi Scheme Con Man Admits Duping 240 Investors Out of $10 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"courtroom_02\"<\/a>An Orange County man who operated a Ponzi scheme that promised large returns to victims who invested in debt obligations and in distressed real estate plead guilty today to two felonies \u2014 federal mail fraud and wire fraud charges.<\/p>\n

William Donnelly Yotty<\/strong>, 69, who currently resides in Monarch Beach, admitted that he ran several Lodi-based companies that offered bogus investments in corporate debt obligations and distressed real estate that he and his\u00a0salespeople could flip for substantial profit.<\/p>\n

Yotty and others involved in the scheme raised more than $10 million in the debt obligation scheme, and more than $6 million in the real estate flipping scheme. When the schemes collapsed, approximately 240 investors lost over $14 million, according to officials.<\/p>\n

Using companies he operated under the names Global Capital Associates, Inc.<\/strong>; Infostar Systems, Inc<\/strong>.; Pacific Financial Solutions, Inc.; and The Money People, Inc.<\/strong>, Yotty solicited money from victims by promising annual interest rates as high as 25 percent.<\/p>\n

Yotty is facing up to 40 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 23, officials said.<\/p>\n

In the first scheme, which ran from the spring of 2007 through 2009, Yotty and his associates \u201coffered victims investments in convertible debentures (CDs), promissory notes and other financial instruments that defendant falsely and fraudulently represented and promised were safe and secure and would pay substantial interest,\u201d according to the plea agreement.<\/p>\n

Yotty and salesmen working for him told prospective investors that the companies issuing the debt had sufficient income to pay the promised interest on the investments, and that the capital investment would be returned when the notes matured.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, as defendant then well knew, the returns were not guaranteed and the investors\u2019 principal was not secure because the only way defendant could fund the \u2018interest\u2019 payments he promised to investors was with other investors\u2019 money,\u201d Yotty admitted in his plea agreement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the second scheme, which was run through a company he called Fortuno, Inc. and took place during roughly the same time at the first scheme, Yotty offered victims the opportunity to purchase foreclosed real estate at below-market prices, which would allow them to resell, or \u201cflip,\u201d the properties at two or three times their purchase price, officials said.<\/p>\n

In fact, Yotty himself was flipping the properties to the investors at substantial profits for himself.<\/p>\n

Yotty concealed from the investors that the price they were paying for the properties was double or triple what Fortuno had paid, and that this inflated price would prevent the victims from realizing any profit of their own, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

As a further inducement to invest in Fortuno, officials said Yotty and his salespeople also falsely promised victims that the properties were in livable condition and that Fortuno would manage the properties until the promised resale.<\/p>\n

The investigation was conducted by the FBI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES An Orange County man who operated a Ponzi scheme that promised large returns to victims who invested in debt obligations and in distressed real estate plead guilty today to two…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[1722,77],"class_list":["post-14980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-fbi","tag-ponzi-scheme"],"yoast_head":"\nPonzi Scheme Con Man Duped 240 Investors Out of Millions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Orange County man who operated a Ponzi scheme that promised large returns duped 240 Investors out of $10 million.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ponzi Scheme Con Man Duped 240 Investors Out of Millions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Orange County man who operated a Ponzi scheme that promised large returns duped 240 Investors out of $10 million.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-25T01:58:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"260\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"180\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Ponzi Scheme Con Man Admits Duping 240 Investors Out of $10 Million\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-25T01:58:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980\"},\"wordCount\":469,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"FBI\",\"Ponzi Scheme\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980\",\"name\":\"Ponzi Scheme Con Man Duped 240 Investors Out of Millions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-25T01:58:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"An Orange County man who operated a Ponzi scheme that promised large returns duped 240 Investors out of $10 million.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=14980#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg\",\"width\":260,\"height\":180},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ponzi Scheme Con Man Duped 240 Investors Out of Millions","description":"An Orange County man who operated a Ponzi scheme that promised large returns duped 240 Investors out of $10 million.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ponzi Scheme Con Man Duped 240 Investors Out of Millions","og_description":"An Orange County man who operated a Ponzi scheme that promised large returns duped 240 Investors out of $10 million.","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2015-08-25T01:58:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":260,"height":180,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Ponzi Scheme Con Man Admits Duping 240 Investors Out of $10 Million","datePublished":"2015-08-25T01:58:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980"},"wordCount":469,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg","keywords":["FBI","Ponzi Scheme"],"articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980","name":"Ponzi Scheme Con Man Duped 240 Investors Out of Millions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg","datePublished":"2015-08-25T01:58:04+00:00","description":"An Orange County man who operated a Ponzi scheme that promised large returns duped 240 Investors out of $10 million.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=14980#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Ponzi-Scheme-Image-Courtesy-FBI.jpg","width":260,"height":180},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14980"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14982,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14980\/revisions\/14982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}