A Charlotte man was sentenced to six years in prison for stealing more than $6M from friends, family, fellow church members, and veterans in a ponzi scheme.
News release from the United States Attorney’s Office Western District of North Carolina
CHARLOTTE, N.C. β Wynn A.D. Charlebois, 55, of Charlotte, was sentenced to six years in prison today for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that caused millions of dollars in losses, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge David Norton also ordered Charlebois to serve two years of supervised release and to pay more than $5.7 million in restitution.
James C. Barnacle, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in North Carolina, and Rodney Hopkins, Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), which oversees Charlotte, join U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making this announcement.
According to court records, from 2015 to 2022, Charlebois used companies he owned and controlled, including WC Private, Wilcox Hybrid, Damon Investments, and others, to perpetrate a multi-million-dollar fraudulent investment scheme. Charlebois used his past employment at a reputable hedge fund to con his victims into trusting him with their hard-earned savings, falsely promising their money would be invested in risk-free investments, subscription agreements, and loans. Contrary to Charleboisβs claims, instead of investing the victimsβ money as promised, he used the funds to make Ponzi-style payments and on personal expenditures. Court documents show that Charlebois continued to solicit additional funds even after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought an enforcement action against him.
Charlebois defrauded more than 40 victims around the country, including friends, family, fellow church members, veterans, and retirees. The victims, some of whom were in or nearing retirement, sustained approximately $6 million in losses, and as a result have suffered substantially. In explaining the sentence imposed, Judge Norton emphasized, among other things, the βdevastating effectβ that Charleboisβs fraud had on his victims, both financially and emotionally.
βThose who lie and cheat others out of money will eventually be caught and face the full force of the law,β said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. βAs this case shows, fraud carries serious consequences, including significant prison time.β
βThose who seek to maximize profits by misleading investors should expect to pay a heavy price,β said Inspector in Charge Hopkins. βThe U.S. Postal Inspection Service is proud to work alongside our law-enforcement partners to protect the integrity of our financial markets and bring to justice trusted insiders who abuse their position.β
On July 31, 2023, Charlebois pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. He will be ordered to report to a federal facility upon designation by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The FBI and USPIS investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Ryan of the U.S. Attorneyβs Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.
