Home San Francisco Press Releases 2010 CFO of San Jose Company Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison for Investment Fraud Scheme and Tax Evasion ...
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CFO of San Jose Company Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison for Investment Fraud Scheme and Tax Evasion
Ordered to Pay Restitution and Back Taxes

U.S. Attorney’s Office June 02, 2010
  • Northern District of California (415) 436-7200

SAN JOSE, CA—Gregory Scott Dixon was sentenced yesterday to 24 months in prison for his role in an investment fraud scheme, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced.

Dixon 40, of Marysville, California was charged on Aug. 18, 2009 with one count of wire fraud and one count of tax evasion. On Sept, 21, 2009, under a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to both counts.

According to court documents, Dixon served as Treasurer and helped operate Financia Investing, Inc., along with a colleague. He admitted that he and his colleague made false representations to investors that their money would be properly invested. Once they received the funds, they diverted some of the money for their personal use, and used funds from later investors’ to pay off earlier investors. They invested some of the funds, but at a far lower amount than represented to investors. Dixon also sent out false IRS 1099 forms to investors, representing non-existent earnings on Financia accounts, as well as false monthly earnings statements, as a way of furthering the scheme and artifice by lulling investors’ concerns about Financia.

According to court documents, whatever limited trading activity Financia had engaged in had completely stopped by July 2006, but Dixon and his colleague continued to receive and accept incoming wire transfers from investors. In December 2006, Dixon knew that his colleague was gravely ill with cancer. He falsely represented to investors that the investment activities of Financia would continue undisturbed, and that after his colleague’s death, he would contact an attorney to resolve any matters and make sure that all investors received their money. He also told investors that there was very little money left in Financia’s bank accounts. Dixon used at least $24,060 from one account to pay his personal American Express bill and withdrew all the money from the other account by way of two cashier’s checks in the amounts of $414,343.23 and $80,000. He used all the money from these transactions for personal expenses which included jewelry for his new girlfriend at the time.

Dixon also evaded payment of federal taxes for the income that he made from Financia, that is, the money that he took in 2006. He evaded tax due and owing of approximately $145,150 for 2006.

Dixon is scheduled to begin serving his prison sentence on Oct. 5, 2010. U.S. District Court Judge Ronald M. Whyte also ordered Dixon to pay restitution in the amount of $614,923, and sentenced him to a three-year period of supervised release.

Matt Parrella is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Lauri Gomez. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation.

This law enforcement action is part of the work being done by President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information on the task force, visit StopFraud.gov.

Further Information:

Case #: CR 09-00834 RMW

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Jack Gillund at (415) 436-6599 or by email at Jack.Gillund@usdoj.gov.

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