Fresno man pleads guilty to fraud after running $4.2M Ponzi scheme to pay for luxury cars, mansion
A man accused of orchestrating a Ponzi scheme to steal more than $4.2 million pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court.
Royce Newcomb, 62, of Fresno, changed his plea on charges of wire fraud and money laundering connected to a scheme that dated back to 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Using the company Strategic Innovations LLC, Newcomb lied about his income to draw investments from others, prosecutors said. He also was accused of stealing COVID-19 loans from the Small Business Administration.
Court records say he made claims his company made technology meant to fight package thefts, prevent weather damage to packages and make deliveries easier.
He created prototypes of products, got patents and trademarks and received some local and national media attention on TV, prosecutors say.
For example, Time Magazine included his eLiT Address Box & Security System on its “Best Inventions of 2021” list, and ABC30 featured some of his products in a story that remained online as of the day of his plea change.
Newcomb also lied about being awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation to get financial support from investors, the DOJ said.
“Newcomb used the money to pay for gambling, a Mercedes and Jaguar, and a mansion,” prosecutors said in a news release.
He also used new investments to pay off old debts from other investors, which is commonly called a Ponzi scheme, prosecutors said.
Newcomb was previously convicted in a federal case in 2011 for running a real estate fraud scheme in Sacramento, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to more than five years in prison for that, and was on federal supervised release when he committed the offenses in the Ponzi scheme, prosecutors said.
He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the wire fraud counts. His sentencing hearing is set for May 5.
