Thursday, November 15, 2012

Ron Wilson sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison

Via Billy

Ron Wilson arrives at the Clement F. Haynsworth Jr. Federal Building in Greenville before being sentenced to nearly 19.5 years in prison for running a $59 million Ponzi scheme. 

 Before he was led out in handcuffs, Ponzi schemer and former Anderson County Council member Ron Wilson said he had cleared his conscience.

Wilson, 65, was sentenced Tuesday in a Greenville federal courtroom and he will spend the next 19 and a half years behind bars for running a decade-long scam that ended with $57.4 million lost from nearly 800 investors.

“I took from my brother and from my daughter,” Wilson said before he was sentenced. “I am extremely sorry for what I have done. My conscience is clearer now than it has been in years.”

He said the Ponzi scheme started small and snowballed until it was destined to fall apart, and fall apart it did in March.

Wilson convinced retirees, friends, business associates and others to clean out their retirement accounts, cash out their insurance policies and put as much money as possible into his silver investment business where he would monitor “key indicators” for large profits. He never bought silver for most of his clients, telling them that the silver was in a Delaware depository that had never heard of Wilson.

His standing in the community — in both elected and appointed offices — increased his sentence because he had abused his role of public trust.

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