Plano, Tx man gets prison in Fake Disney Park Case

[Texian@WDW]

A few years ago, friends knowing what a Disney freak I am would say "You know they're building a new park here in Texas don't you?" Bull corn I said!! One day at Bible study, a friend said "they're about to make an announcement about the new Disneyworld up near Plano". Ugh!!! I never could get anyone to believe that this was not true!! Fast forward to yesterday and I see this on my local news site:

SHERMAN - A judge in Sherman has sentenced a man to 17 ½ years in prison for swindling investors with a fake story about a Walt Disney theme park in North Texas.

Thomas W. Lucas Jr. of Plano was also ordered to pay $8.4 million in restitution Tuesday. He had been convicted of seven counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements to the FBI.

Prosecutors said Lucas defrauded more than 280 investors out of about $20 million from 2006 to 2010. Those who paid for land in Collin and Denton counties were told it was on the edges of the future park. Investors had hoped to flip the land to developers for a profit after Disney made an announcement.

The Walt Disney Co. has denied rumors of a North Texas theme park. Lucas told investors that a secret source had tipped him off.

Justice!

 

[soniam]

Buyer beware though!

 

[Jfsag123]

Ha! Right in my own backyard. Sadly (for both me and the investors), the dream of having Disney right up the road will not be coming true.

 

[Andrew015]

While the guy was undoubtedly a snake, I can't really say that I feel sorry for the investors. If you're dumb enough to spend hundreds of thousands or perhaps even millions of dollars in land based on one guy's half-baked theory without doing any due-diligence for yourself, you're not going to get any sympathy from me (not that anyone is asking for it).

A sucker is born every minute. Evidently, this guy managed to find 280 of them in North Texas. Must have had one heck of a compelling tale.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I am certain he will make restitution !
2) About the same time Pigs Fly.

 

[Josh Hendy]

Check out the pictures of Junior on google images for a laugh and/or head shake.

It defies belief that anyone would trust millions of dollars to this pig-eyed refugee from a rehab clinic.

And, it seems that they didn't. The real story goes deeper than this. The no-good Junior actually pitched the Disney stories to investors along with his rich, prominent real estate mogul uncle. The uncle participated in the presentations of fake Disney documentation to the rubes ... then claimed he didn't know the papers were fake. The rich uncle threw his nephew under the bus by "cooperating" and he skated. Junior took the fall. A kind of reverse nepotism.

Uncle had a good enough alibi or maybe connections to stay out of jail ... but probably not good enough to get out from under all the civil lawsuits.