Home Columbia Press Releases 2010 Rock Hill Man Pleads Guilty in Ponzi Scheme Case
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Rock Hill Man Pleads Guilty in Ponzi Scheme Case

U.S. Attorney’s Office January 04, 2010
  • District of South Carolina (803) 929-3000

COLUMBIA, SCUnited States Attorney W. Walter Wilkins announced today that Oren Eugene Sullivan, age 63, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, pled guilty in federal court to mail fraud in connection with his operation of a Ponzi scheme. Senior United States District Judge Matthew J. Perry accepted the plea and will sentence Sullivan at a later date.

Sullivan admitted that from 1995 through 2008, he ran the Ponzi scheme in which he sold false investments to 35 different individuals or groups of investors. Sullivan told clients that he was managing their investment accounts, and paid small dividends to his investors. However, he was actually converting their invested money for his own use, and paying the dividends with money he received from new investors. Over the course of the scheme, Sullivan took in approximately $2.5 million dollars from unwitting investors.

Sullivan’s scheme was detected by an investor, who reported him to authorities.

The maximum penalty is a fine of $250,000 and imprisonment for 20 years.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan S. Williams of the Columbia office for prosecution.

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