Local Businessman Sentenced to 180 Months in Prison for Orchestrating $70 Million Ponzi Scheme

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/local-businessman-sentenced-180-months-prison-orchestrating-70-million-ponzi-scheme

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Ohio

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 30, 2017

Local Businessman Sentenced to 180 Months in Prison for Orchestrating $70 Million Ponzi Scheme

Defendant Ordered to Pay More Than $32 Million in Restitution

DAYTON – William M. Apostelos, 55, formerly of Springboro, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 180 months in prison for defrauding nearly 500 victims in a $70 million Ponzi scheme. Apostelos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and theft or embezzlement from an employee benefit plan in February.
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Apostelos and his wife, Connie, also known as Connie Coleman, were indicted in October 2015. According to court documents, beginning in 2009, and continuing for at least five years, the couple and others orchestrated a Ponzi scheme in the Dayton area in which nearly 480 investors lost more than $20 million collectively. Apostelos received $70 million in investment funds in total.
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The couple recruited investors from 37 states to invest in WMA and Midwest Green, telling the investors that their money would be used for acquiring stocks or securities, purchasing real estate or land, providing loans to business and buying gold and silver. Rather than investing the money, the couple used it to pay for personal luxuries. According to court documents, William Apostelos was spending $35,000 per month on his wife’s horse racing company and $400 per month on Victoria’s Secret lingerie.

When the defendants became late on interest payments to the victims, they advised that their bank account had been hacked, a bank mistakenly failed to wire payment and/or the deal the victim had invested in was temporarily on hold.
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[nitpicker]

1. Update- another sentencing

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/local-businesswoman-sentenced-role-70-million-ponzi-scheme

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Ohio

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Local Businesswoman Sentenced for Role in $70 Million Ponzi Scheme

DAYTON – Connie Apostelos, also known as Connie Coleman, 51, formerly of Springboro, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 30 months in prison for charges related to a $70 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded nearly 500 victims.
(snip)

Apostelos and her husband, William Apostelos, were indicted in October 2015. According to court documents, beginning in 2009, and continuing for at least five years, the couple and others orchestrated a Ponzi scheme in the Dayton area in which nearly 480 investors lost more than $20 million collectively. They received $70 million in investment funds in total.
(snip)