[TravelMan]

Esteemed son of the south pleads guilty in $90.1m silver Ponzi scheme

Thanks to a huge score in non-existent silver, Ronnie Gene Wilson may qualify for the hall of shame in the brotherhood of rascally southern con-men and flim-flam men.



Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Wednesday , 01 Aug 2012
RENO (MINEWEB) -
A former Anderson County, South Carolina councilman and past national commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in connection with a Ponzi scheme in which an estimated 945 investors in 16 states were duped into investing a total of $90.1 million in alleged silver contracts.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in South Carolina, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Ronnie Gene Wilson, 64, of Easley operated a Ponzi scheme through his company Atlantic Bullion & Coin, Inc. since "at least 2001 through February 29, 2012."
"As part of their Ponzi scheme, Wilson and AB&C....fraudulently offered contracts of sale of silver bullion, a commodity in interstate commerce," said the CFTC. "Through their Ponzi scheme, defendants obtained at least $90.1 million, from at least 945 investors, for the purchase of silver."
"From August 15, 2011, through February 29, 2012 (the ‘Relevant Period' of this complaint), defendants obtained at least $11.53 million, from at least 237 investors...in sixteen states, for the purchase of silver," according to the complaint for injunction and other relief filed in the federal court.
"Despite the offers of sale, defendants failed to purchase any silver at all with the $11.53 million they collected from the AB&C Investors. Instead, defendants misappropriated it," the CFTC asserted. "By late 2011, as their Ponzi scheme began to unravel, defendants attempted to conceal their fraud by issuing false and/or fraudulent financial statements."
The CFTC sought monetary penalties and trading and registration bans, restitution disgorgement, rescission, post-judgement interest, and other relief from the court.
South Carolina Securities Commissioner Alan Wilson also filed a complaint against Wilson and Atlantic Bullion & Coin, charging the defendants with violating the South Carolina Uniform Securities Act of 2005. Wilson alleged that offers and sales were made to investors in 25 states.
"Defendants have, on one or more occasions, used proceeds from a later investor to fund repayment of a portion or all of an earlier investor's investment and/or payment of returns and have not notified the later investor of this material fact," Wilson claimed.
Meanwhile, the commissioner asserted the defendants sold silver at a price per ounce basis "which was outside the trading range of silver during the period in which the investor gave funds for investment in silver and/or received funds purportedly from the sale of his or her silver investment."
A former member of South Carolina's State Board of Education, Wilson met with representatives of the State Securities Division in February, testifying under oath that he and his business "sell silver to banks in New York and Zurich among other places." He also claimed the company had an account at a Delaware depository with 500,000 to 600,000 ounces of silver in it.
The Securities Division said no evidence had been received which supported Wilson's representations.
During a news conference Monday, U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said Wilson had plead guilty to two counts of mail fraud. He said Wilson had been cooperative with authorities.
"We are just getting started," Nettles said. "We have 10 years of bank records to go through. There are millions of dollars missing." He added that recovering money and assets that would be used to repay more than 800 victims is a priority for prosecutors and law enforcement.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Greenville and Anderson County Sheriffs' Offices.
Under a plea agreement, Wilson has said he will make full restitution although he lost nearly $60 million of clients' money. The receiver in the case says Wilson owns silver bars, shotguns and an 80-acre farm. A website and telephone number has been established to develop a list of investors who would share the profits if a judge orders that Wilson's assets be liquidated.
Meanwhile, the CFTC civil enforcement action is still underway.
Wilson is free on $1 million bond pending sentencing. The maximum penalty he faces is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the two counts of mail fraud.
http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/...ail&pid=102055

[boltondd]

i would be nice in see just one person in jail . with the money he has taken he will buy his way out of jail time and have more then he need to live fine on till his death