Californian Sentenced for 70 Months for Multi-Million Fraud

Published: 22 August 2018

By Tibor Racz

A Californian who collected millions of dollars from investors to whom he lied that he had billions overseas and needed to borrow money to access his wealth will spend 70 months behind bars and pay over half a million in fines, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday.

 

In addition to the prison sentence, Kenneth Brewington, 55, of Corona, California, was ordered by a Colorado judge to serve three years of supervised release and to pay US$563,526.78.

Brewington was convicted in May of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and other crimes.

The Department of Justice statement said that starting 2009, Brewington and his co-conspirators told the victims that he needed millions of dollars in supposed fees in order to access his extraordinary wealth abroad and that he would in return use that money for financing. 

The investors wired the money to an attorney trust account but from there it was diverted to Brewington and his allies who also pleaded guilty. 

Brian G. Elrod, 59, of Lakewood, Colorado, was sentenced to serve 41 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $2,440,051. 

William E. Dawn, 80, of Denver, Colorado, was sentenced to time served and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $366,752.