Crime & Safety

Roseville Man Sentenced in $2.9M Ponzi Scheme

Barry Winnett of Roseville was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for a real estate Ponzi scheme, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

A Roseville man was sentenced to serve three years, two months in prison and full restitution for wire fraud for his involvement in a $2.9 million real estate scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Barry Winnett, 49, was sentenced today, Jan. 5 for his participation in a real estate Ponzi scheme. According to court documents, between Jan. 1, 2009 and Feb. 19, 2010, Winnett helped co-defendant Royce Newcomb run a scheme in which 22 investors transferred $2,975,352 to Winnett’s “Contour Escrow Services,” which was not an escrow service at all.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Winnett had no license to perform escrow services. He simply followed Newcomb’s instructions to disburse later investors’ money to earlier investors and create false documents showing that the bogus “escrow account” actually was holding money. In fact, the account had almost no money because Winnett had disbursed it all as bogus returns on investment.

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Winnett responded to a victim in court by saying that he was sorry for what happened. United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. ordered the defendant immediately taken into custody and said that he hoped that the defendant would spend every day of his sentence reflecting on the gravity of what he had done to his victims.

This case is the product of a joint investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Segal prosecuted the case.

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