The founder and CEO of a San Diego-based financial firm that defrauded victims out of millions of dollars sentenced Friday to federal prison.
Carlos Manuel da Silva Santos pleaded guilty in January to charges of wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge Robert S. Huie sentenced him Friday to 87 months in custody.
He had faced a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and $250,000 fine on the conspiracy count alone.
Santos headed Ethos Asset Management, Inc., which the U.S. Attorney’s Office said scammed victims out of more than $17 million in the United States alone.
Though his plea agreement outlines the domestic losses, prosecutors say they plan to offer evidence at a future hearing “that Santos owes significantly more money to various other victims” both here and abroad, including in Brazil and Turkey.
Prosecutors say Ethos offered loans to prospective borrowers who paid upfront fees as collateral, but the funds often were not provided. Other times, the loans were made up of collateral fees paid by other borrowers.
Santos, 30, and others at Ethos also made numerous misrepresentations about the company’s ability to provide loans and altered financial statements to falsely represent Ethos’ assets, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
For example, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Santos forged the signature of a bookkeeping firm employee to falsely represent that an audited financial statement for Ethos showed it had over $2.2 billion in total assets.
Another time, Santos sent a borrower a bank statement that falsely stated Ethos had more than $100 million, which led the borrower to wire Ethos money.
Santos, a Portuguese national, has been in custody since his November 2023 arrest in New Jersey.
One of his defense attorneys, Marcus Bourassa, argued at Friday’s sentencing that the offenses were not tied to greed, but rather to a desire to ensure his firm was successful.
Bourassa said Ethos completed numerous legitimate deals, but added that at the same time the company was “substantially over-promising” to its clients.
“He set out in the world hoping to found a company that would be successful and grow the way he thought would fulfill his potential and the expectations of him. Along the way, he made decision after decision to lie in service of that dream,” Bourassa said.
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