DAVID SMITH, the former head of collapsed investment scheme Olint, is set to plead guilty to defrauding thousands of customers of more than $US$220 million in an Orlando court today, reports the Florida Sun-Sentinel.
As part of a plea agreement, Smith has admitted guilt to four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and 18 of money laundering.
Last year, he received a prison sentence of just over six years in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where he pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges. United States authorities collected Smith from the Caribbean island in November to face federal charges.
Prosecutors said that more than 6,000 people invested with Smith. He admitted in his plea agreement that Olint was a “massive” Ponzi scheme, whereby he paid returns to investors not from profit but from their own money or that paid by subsequent investors.
These funds, transferred to his own personal bank accounts, reportedly enabled Smith to live a lavish lifestyle. Among his expenditures included political contributions, gambling, a down-payment for the purchase of a Lear jet and sponsorship of the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival.
A raid by authorities in Jamaica forced him to shut down his business in Jamaica and relocate to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
