Veterans among victims of $1 billion Ponzi scam, feds say. Man will face trial in SC
Federal agents in California on Saturday arrested a man accused of scamming thousands of people around the country in an elaborate Ponzi scheme targeting people with pensions, court records show.
Scott Kohn stole from pension holders, many of whom were veterans, to fund his “lavish lifestyle,” prosecutors say. When he gave up on the scheme, prosecutors say, he owed investors more than $300 million.
He scammed more than 2,600 people over 7 years, according to investigators.
Federal prosecutors in South Carolina issued a warrant for Kohn’s arrest in March for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, court records show.
The indictment says Kohn and his company, Future Income Payments LLC, targeted pension holders who were “in acute financial distress and were desperate for money.” Many of Kohn’s victims were veterans, according to the indictment.
Kohn offered his victims a loan or lump sum payment and in exchange they would sign their pensions over to his company, prosecutors say.
Interest on those loans was frequently more than 100%, according to the indictment.
Kohn and his company would then sell the monthly pension payments to investors, calling them “structured cash flows” and promising 6.5 to 8% returns to the investors, court records say. Kohn hid the actual source of the cash flow from investors, prosecutors say.
The indictment says Kohn ran the scheme from 2011 to April 2018.
Kohn is scheduled to appear in federal court in San Diego, California, Wednesday when prosecutors will argue to keep him detained, court records show. He is also scheduled to appear in federal court in Greenville, South Carolina, on Nov. 4.
