Charleston Con Man Sentenced to 20 Years

COLUMBIA, SC—United States Attorney William N. Nettles stated that Michael Derrick Peninger, age 51, of Daniel Island, South Carolina, was sentenced today in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina, for mail fraud and making a false statement to the FBI, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341 and 1001. Senior United States District Judge P. Michael Duffy of Charleston sentenced Peninger to 240 months' imprisonment and three years' supervised release.

Evidence presented at the trial in October established that from 2002 through March 2007, Peninger was the President of the Cooper River Group Inc., CSA Trading Group Inc., and Daniel Island Builders LLC., firms that purported to trade commodity futures contracts and to develop real estate. The evidence proved that Peninger obtained more than $7 million from more than 40 investors based on numerous fraudulent representations regarding his financial success and the safety and security of his investments. Contrary to the fraudulent representations that he would trade commodity futures on behalf of his investors, Peninger and others at his companies engaged in very little trading. Instead, Peninger misappropriated investors’ funds for his personal enrichment, to fund unauthorized business ventures, and to pay previous investors to further the “Ponzi scheme.” Based Peninger’s fraud, investors lost approximately $5 million, much of which constituted their retirement savings.

The case was investigated by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Assistant United States Attorneys Rhett DeHart and Dean Secor of the Charleston office prosecuted the case.