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OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Edwin Lickiss, a 78-year-old financial adviser from Danville has been sentenced for defrauding his friends, members of his church and even his own family in a $12 million Ponzi scheme that lasted nearly 30 years.
ABC7 Eyewitness News' Dan Noyes questioned Lickiss on Wednesday before he entered the courtroom, asking, "I wonder what your thoughts are as you head off to prison today" before the federal judge sentenced him to nine years.
There were tears in that courtroom with two dozen of his victims in attendance. Prosecutors got the sentence they wanted, the judge saying the financial adviser "left a trail of destruction" in a scheme that lasted almost three decades.
We spotted Lickiss outside Oakland Federal Court Wednesday morning, reading the letter he prepared for court. "A lot of the victims aren't going to hear what's happening in the court," Noyes told Lickiss.
"Do you have anything to say to all your victims here right now?" He didn't want to discuss more than $12 million he took from at least 93 victims in a Ponzi scheme. DAN NOYES : "Public place, sir.
I don't need to. I don't need to go away." EDWIN LICKISS : "But you're invading my space at a cri tical time." DAN NOYES : "I'm not invading your space.
You're in public, sir. You have no right to privacy out in public." He walked to the security checkpoint, talked to the US Marshals, conferred with his wife in the building's rotunda, and finally addressed his victims.
DAN NOYES : "What's going to be your message for the victims?" EDWIN LICKISS : "I'm terribly, terribly, horribly sorry and totally at fault." With his guilty plea, Lickiss admitted he convinced his victims to "purchase nonexistent bonds", and that he used "funds to pay earlier investors in the manner of a Ponzi scheme" according to the indictment, and that he used the money "for his own personal use, including cash withdrawals, home renovations, travel, and car, mortgage, and personal credit card payments." Victim Caroline Jones said, "He's a con man, and he's fraudulent.
And he tells you what you want to hear." His victims came from the Danville-Alamo community, from his kids' sports teams, even from church.
Susan Wilburn told 7 On Your Side Investigates, "It's amazing to me that a man who you think you trust, man you spoke to, you know, about God and in family and knew for decades can do something like this." T he judge agreed to the prosecution's request for a 9-year prison sentence.
All of the victims with whom we spoke are satisfied with the punishment.
Gợi ý thực hành:
1. Theo dõi thông báo từ cơ quan địa phương tại California.
2. Kiểm tra nguồn chính thức trước khi chia sẻ lại thông tin.