{"id":49690,"date":"2022-05-04T09:53:35","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T16:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690"},"modified":"2022-05-04T11:10:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T18:10:41","slug":"man-guilty-of-scamming-investor-through-real-estate-coupon-bonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690","title":{"rendered":"Man Guilty of Scamming 20 Investors of $1.7 million through Real Estate “Coupon Bonds”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"A Santa Clarita resident who invested in real estate and sold \u201ccoupon bonds\u201d that promised regular interest payments on top of principal repayment admitted to defrauding investors out of more than $1.7 million, officials stated this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Matthew Skinner, 45, who in 2014 founded a company called Empire West Equity, Inc. and later established Simple Growth, LLC, was charged today with securities fraud in a one-count information filed in federal court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Simple Growth raised approximately $1.7 million from more than 20 investors \u2013 none of whom received any of their money back, according to authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The securities fraud charge against Skinner carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Federal prosecutors Tuesday also filed a plea agreement in which Skinner agreed to plead guilty to the offense and admitted he fraudulently sold securities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"FBI
FBI Photo Image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Skinner used social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to promote himself, falsely claiming to be an experienced and successful real estate investor with more than $200 million in deals under his belt, according to court documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Empire West experienced financial troubles \u2013 Skinner was unable to pay his staff and investors \u2013 he established Simple Growth in 2018 and falsely told investors who purchased Simple Growth coupon bonds \u201cthat their money would be used to purchase real estate that [Skinner] and Empire West would develop and resell at a profit,\u201d according to the plea agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Skinner admitted that he did not intend to purchase, develop or resell real estate, and that he instead used investor funds to pay older investors, his employees and himself, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Skinner \u201cused investor funds from those entities and accounts to pay for personal trips, his mortgage, his utility bills, cosmetic surgery, and alimony payments to his ex-wife,\u201d he acknowledged in the plea agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Skinner has agreed to surrender to federal authorities and make his initial court appearance on May 25.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Santa Clarita resident who invested in real estate and sold \u201ccoupon bonds\u201d that promised regular interest payments on top of principal repayment admitted to defrauding investors out of more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-federal-court"],"yoast_head":"\nMan Guilty of Scamming 20 Investors of $1.7 million through Real Estate "Coupon Bonds"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Santa Clarita resident who invested in real estate and sold \u201ccoupon bonds\u201d that promised regular interest payments on top of\" \/>\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=49690\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man Guilty of Scamming 20 Investors of $1.7 million through Real Estate "Coupon Bonds"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Santa Clarita resident who invested in real estate and sold \u201ccoupon bonds\u201d that promised regular interest payments on top of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690\" \/>\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=\"2022-05-04T16:53:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-04T18:10:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2161\" \/>\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=49690#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Man Guilty of Scamming 20 Investors of $1.7 million through Real Estate “Coupon Bonds”\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-04T16:53:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-04T18:10:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690\"},\"wordCount\":334,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Federal Court\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690\",\"name\":\"Man Guilty of Scamming 20 Investors of $1.7 million through Real Estate \\\"Coupon Bonds\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-04T16:53:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-04T18:10:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Santa Clarita resident who invested in real estate and sold \u201ccoupon bonds\u201d that promised regular interest payments on top of\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=49690#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2161,\"caption\":\"Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash\"},{\"@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":"Man Guilty of Scamming 20 Investors of $1.7 million through Real Estate \"Coupon Bonds\"","description":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Santa Clarita resident who invested in real estate and sold \u201ccoupon bonds\u201d that promised regular interest payments on top of","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=49690","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Man Guilty of Scamming 20 Investors of $1.7 million through Real Estate \"Coupon Bonds\"","og_description":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Santa Clarita resident who invested in real estate and sold \u201ccoupon bonds\u201d that promised regular interest payments on top of","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2022-05-04T16:53:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-04T18:10:41+00:00","og_image":[{"height":2161,"width":2560,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg","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=49690#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Man Guilty of Scamming 20 Investors of $1.7 million through Real Estate “Coupon Bonds”","datePublished":"2022-05-04T16:53:35+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-04T18:10:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690"},"wordCount":334,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg","articleSection":["Federal Court"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690","name":"Man Guilty of Scamming 20 Investors of $1.7 million through Real Estate \"Coupon Bonds\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-05-04T16:53:35+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-04T18:10:41+00:00","description":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Santa Clarita resident who invested in real estate and sold \u201ccoupon bonds\u201d that promised regular interest payments on top of","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=49690#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/kostiantyn-li-1scxwvoqkaw-unsplash-scaled.jpeg","width":2560,"height":2161,"caption":"Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash"},{"@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\/49690","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=49690"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49699,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49690\/revisions\/49699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}