Matthew Piercey, of the Shasta County town of Palo Cedro, was convicted of 27 counts including wire fraud, money laundering and witness tampering, the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of California said.
Piercey promised investors guaranteed returns using an "Upvesting Fund," which he marketed as an automated algorithmic trading fund. He privately admitted to an associate that this fund never existed, prosecutors said.
"Many invested their life savings with Matthew Piercey's companies, not knowing that the claim of guaranteed returns were the empty promises of a Ponzi scheme," said FBI Sacramento Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel.
The FBI had been investigating for more than a year when they moved in to arrest him on November 16, 2020. Piercey led law enforcement officials on a chase before abandoning his pickup truck near Shasta Lake, where he attempted to escape underwater using a Yamaha 350Li submersible device.
In jail, Piercey was found to have used coded language to direct two visitors to take action with items stored in a U-Haul locker he had rented in Redding, prosecutors said. The locker, rented under a fake name with a forged ID, contained a wig and ₣31,000 in Swiss francs, among other items.
Winton was originally recruited by Piercey to be an investor but eventually took on management responsibilities at Zolla.
"Investment fraud schemes like the one led by this defendant can devastate lives, retirements, and undo decades of planning by hard-working people simply looking for a trusted place to invest their money," Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith said.
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