LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A lawyer who ran a half-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme to fund his lavish way of life and repay his playing debt is predicted to plead responsible, the 8 Information Now Investigators have discovered.
Matthew Beasley agreed to plead responsible to 5 counts of wire fraud, paperwork stated. A federal grand jury voted to indict him in 2023.
The utmost attainable sentence Beasley faces is 100 years in jail, plus a wonderful of $1.25 million and supervised launch. As a part of the settlement, federal prosecutors will recommend a lesser penalty than statutorily required, paperwork stated.
Prosecutors initially charged Beasley in 2022 after an FBI agent-involved taking pictures on Mar. 3, 2022, at his residence close to the 215 Beltway and Ann Highway.
Beasley was beforehand charged with one rely of assault on a federal officer for pointing a gun at an FBI agent after they got here to his home to speak to him about their investigation, officers stated. Beasley refused to drop a gun, main an agent to shoot him, the division stated after his arrest. That legal case was later dismissed.
Investigators stated that greater than 600 individuals invested with Beasley, involving practically half a billion {dollars}. Beasley used the cash to purchase luxurious gadgets and repay playing money owed, courtroom paperwork stated. Within the plea settlement, prosecutors describe the scheme as “massive.”
“Approximately $331.4 million of the $461 million was returned to investors, causing some investors to profit from their investments, some to break even, and others to lose money,” prosecutors stated in paperwork filed Friday. In whole, 948 buyers misplaced a complete of practically $246.4 million.”
Beasley paid himself $33.5 million, utilizing the cash to buy “luxury homes, high-end cars, recreational vehicles, among other things,” prosecutors stated. About $11 million of the $33.5 million went “to pay off his gambling debts and $22.8 million to enrich himself and to continue gambling.”
“In short, the defendant knowingly caused investors to believe that their investments would be used to fund loans to personal injury plaintiffs… waiting to receive settlements from their claims against insurance companies, when the defendant knew all along that he would not use investor money to fund loans but to enrich himself and others, and to repay investors as if loans had been made,” paperwork stated.
The scheme allegedly started round 2017 when “Beasley falsely and fraudulently represented to [a person] that he could find plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits who wanted to borrow money against their settlements,” paperwork stated.
Throughout the 2022 standoff with the FBI, Beasley “repeatedly confessed to an FBI negotiator that… [the] funding scheme was really a Ponzi scheme that began in 2016 or 2017,” paperwork stated.
The state bar later suspended Beasley’s legislation license.
An evidentiary listening to was scheduled for Nov. 24, which was unlikely to maneuver ahead following the plea settlement. It was not clear when Beasley may enter the plea in courtroom.
Beasley’s public defender didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
