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Man gets 46 months in fraud scheme
Saturday, April 01, 2006 | No comments posted.
PORTLAND (AP) - A federal judge sentenced a 29-year-old man to 46 months in prison for multistate fraud schemes Friday, saying she was astounded by the duration and breadth of his scams.
Brian Hicks' sentence from U.S. District Court Judge Anna J. Brown was at the upper edge of nonbinding federal guidelines.
Some family members sobbed quietly during the proceeding. Victims said they had been swindled out of hard-earned money and had lost faith in humanity.
“I think you deserve the maximum penalty,” investor Mike deMoss said. “You got nailed in the end. That's what we're here to see.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton described a life of lavish living on investors' money and said he didn't think Hicks understood the gravity or impact of what he had done.
Hicks, who grew up in the Portland area, must begin paying nearly $2.3 million in restitution upon release. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud in November. The government dismissed 23 other charges.
“I feel horribly about what happened to them,” Hicks said of his victims. “All I can do is do my best to make restitution.”
He will serve his sentence in a federal prison near Denver, where a brother lives.
The government sentencing memorandum cited Hicks' role in “a massive fraud investment scheme in which defendant duped over 600 people from nearly 20 states, giving him over $1.7 million for a company that existed only on paper.” The scheme began in about 1998, the memorandum said.
One case involved a company called “Icentrix,” which said it was developing computer software that would “beat Microsoft.”
The software never existed, but the government said he continued to entice investors with promises of ever-larger profits and at one time told them an imminent sale of the company would fetch $4 billion.
When investors began contacting authorities in 2001 Hicks changed the company name and moved to Nevada.
Prosecutors described a binge of high living in Las Vegas, a Jaguar car, a $160,000-a-year security guard, lap dances and champagne in Las Vegas strip clubs where a witness said the bill for one night ran to $20,000, weeks in a high-end hotel with an exotic dancer and a rental home in an expensive gated community.
In 2004 Hicks moved to Portland and opened Reisender Hotels and Resorts, which advertised high-end time shares.
The government contended he began soliciting investments and raised $300,000 with the bogus claim that he himself had invested $250,000.
No property was ever bought, but when he was arrested in April 2005 there was only $25,0000 left.
Defense lawyer Michael Levine argued for a shorter sentence, saying it would speed up the restitution.
But Judge Brown disagreed, calling the offenses not a single impulsive crime but “a long period of deliberate fraudulent conduct.”
Brian Hicks' sentence from U.S. District Court Judge Anna J. Brown was at the upper edge of nonbinding federal guidelines.
Some family members sobbed quietly during the proceeding. Victims said they had been swindled out of hard-earned money and had lost faith in humanity.
“I think you deserve the maximum penalty,” investor Mike deMoss said. “You got nailed in the end. That's what we're here to see.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton described a life of lavish living on investors' money and said he didn't think Hicks understood the gravity or impact of what he had done.
Hicks, who grew up in the Portland area, must begin paying nearly $2.3 million in restitution upon release. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud in November. The government dismissed 23 other charges.
“I feel horribly about what happened to them,” Hicks said of his victims. “All I can do is do my best to make restitution.”
He will serve his sentence in a federal prison near Denver, where a brother lives.
The government sentencing memorandum cited Hicks' role in “a massive fraud investment scheme in which defendant duped over 600 people from nearly 20 states, giving him over $1.7 million for a company that existed only on paper.” The scheme began in about 1998, the memorandum said.
One case involved a company called “Icentrix,” which said it was developing computer software that would “beat Microsoft.”
The software never existed, but the government said he continued to entice investors with promises of ever-larger profits and at one time told them an imminent sale of the company would fetch $4 billion.
When investors began contacting authorities in 2001 Hicks changed the company name and moved to Nevada.
Prosecutors described a binge of high living in Las Vegas, a Jaguar car, a $160,000-a-year security guard, lap dances and champagne in Las Vegas strip clubs where a witness said the bill for one night ran to $20,000, weeks in a high-end hotel with an exotic dancer and a rental home in an expensive gated community.
In 2004 Hicks moved to Portland and opened Reisender Hotels and Resorts, which advertised high-end time shares.
The government contended he began soliciting investments and raised $300,000 with the bogus claim that he himself had invested $250,000.
No property was ever bought, but when he was arrested in April 2005 there was only $25,0000 left.
Defense lawyer Michael Levine argued for a shorter sentence, saying it would speed up the restitution.
But Judge Brown disagreed, calling the offenses not a single impulsive crime but “a long period of deliberate fraudulent conduct.”
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