Pennsylvania man sentenced in ponzi scheme
BERWYN, PENN. – Robert Stinson, accused of having defrauded more than 260 investors out of more than $17 million, was sentenced this week to 400 months in federal prison.
Investigators said some of the millions collected through Stinson’s scams were used to start several businesses, including one for a timeshare resort that would involve yachts.
According to court records, though, these businesses were filled with family members who never did any work, and the timeshare plan and other failed business ventures never made any money.
Stinson, 56, had pleaded guilty on Aug. 15 2011 before Judge Michael M. Baylson to five counts of wire fraud, four counts of mail fraud, nine counts of money laundering and one count of bank fraud.
He also pleaded guilty to three counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements to federal agents. Federal authorities said Stinson ran a company called Life’s Good Inc., which solicited investments in real estate hedge funds, while promising returns of between 10 and 16 percent a year.
Law enforcement said Life’s Good was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme, where most of the money got diverted to Stinson and family members, and never used for legitimate investments. The Ponzi scheme got shut down in 2010 by the Securities and Exchange Commission, after law enforcement officials raided the Philadelphia offices of his company in June that year. Stinson had started the company in 2006, and employed 170 people at its peak.
Authorities say two Mercedes Benz sedans were seized that Stinson had purchased with proceeds from his ongoing fraud, and that he had obstructed justice by wiring stolen funds out of Life’s Good bank accounts to other accounts.
Court records indicate that between 2006 and 2008, Stinson hired telemarketers to cold-call potential investors, using scripts that told investors they could make 16 percent on their money at no risk, and that the company made short term construction loans at 19 percent interest. People with self-managed IRA accounts were often targeted for these calls.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Axelrod called Stinson a consummate con man who was able to trick reputable businesses — including duping the financial data provider Morningstar Inc. into listing Life’s Good STABL Mortgage Fund on its index of best-performing hedge funds. That turned out to be a highly effective tool to lure in new investors, prosecutors said.
In addition to the timeshare business, Stinson used the money he raked in to invest in other companies, including an online TV station, recording studio, sports marketing firm, and talent agency.
Axelrod said an SEC receiver has only been able to recover $580,000 of the money that Stinson was accused of stealing.
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