David Williams of Studio City, CA was sentenced in October, 2016 to 15 years in prison on charges of tax evasion and wire fraud.
Williams, a licensed securities dealer and investment advisor, was the president of Morgan Peabody, a brokerage and investment firm. In the midst of his May 2015 jury trial, Williams pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and two counts of tax evasion. As part of his plea agreement, Williams admitted to directing Morgan Peabody representatives to sell securities in a fake fund he created called the Sherwood Securities Investment Fund LLC, which they were told was a real estate investment fund, which offered a 9% annual return on investments.
Of the $3.75 million that investors put into his “fund”, Williams used a majority of the money to pay for personal expenses, including expensive vacations and a $50,000/month lease on his $6 million personal residence.
Williams admitted to failing to file tax returns for 2007 and 2008, and failed to report $2.3 million of income he scammed from investors.
In addition to his prison term, Williams is also ordered to pay restitution to his victims in the amount of $5.125 million, $777,881 to the IRS and $258,940 to the California Franchise Tax Board.
