Texas man sentenced to 17 years for Disney park land investment scam

[bcla]

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/201...y-plans-gets-17-years-in-federal-prison.html/

He apparently claimed that he had a tip on where Disney wanted to buy land and persuaded people to invest in a scheme to purchase the land for eventual resale.

 

[gwynne]

Yea, they are always "heartbroken and ashamed" when they are caught and convicted.

 

[bcla]

He apparently only made $448,000 on this via commissions. The money was actually invested in options contracts, but they expired and the investors got nothing out of it. Of course the lie was that he faked official looking letters purporting to be from Disney, showing an intent to build this park.

 

[CPanther95]

He should have made it Dizney.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I thought the headline head "A piano man" instead of "A Plano man"

Although Joel does look a bit like Jim Cramer from Mad Money.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I've got some FL swampland I'm looking to unload.....

 

[MickeySP]

I got a nice bridge up here in Boston - gently used.

 

[Rence]

Well at least we now know where some of those "Disney in Texas" rumors came from.

 

[Micca]

Well at least we now know where some of those "Disney in Texas" rumors came from.

Seems like every few years you hear a rumor about Disney building here or there in the U.S. It never occurred to me that maybe somebody was trying to get a scam going.

 

[bcla]

I read it again, and it wasn't all options contracts. The blog post doesn't even say how much other than some of it was invested that way.

I guess the defense is now trying to get a new trial (not an appeal) based on claimed evidence that his uncle may have been the mastermind. He apparently paid back one of the investors (former NBA player Jon Konkak) - probably trying to keep him from reporting it. It was called a "loan" but one where he never paid him back.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I got a nice bridge up here in Boston - gently used.

I will take the bridge over the swampland…

 

[MickeySP]

I will take the bridge over the swampland…

HMM A bridge over swampland - now that would be practical & a bargain!!

 

[usnuzuloose]

HMM A bridge over swampland - now that would be practical & a bargain!!

At least I can see the bridge still standing, if it sinks I know where it is….

 

[pryncess527]

Lucas read a brief statement in which he said he was “heartbroken and ashamed” about how his actions hurt those he loves.

yeah, but screw those dumb strangers! Not heartbroken and ashamed for what he did to them I take it . . .

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

He's heartbroken he got caught and ashamed everyone knows he's a con artist and a loser.