A San Antonio real estate CEO whom federal authorities accuse of fleecing investors in a $69.5 million Ponzi scheme pleaded guilty this week to a single count of wire fraud, Justice Department officials said.
Devin Ward Elder, the top officer at DJE Texas Management Group LLC, faces up to 20 years in prison for the charge, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas. He also agreed to pay his victims $66 million in restitution as part of his plea agreement, the Express-News reports.
Federal authorities arrested 47-year-old Elder in January on accusations that he fraudulently raised money from 345 investors who agreed to back his real estate projects. His company’s investments ranged from multifamily apartments and commercial buildings to land projects and an entity billed as an “income fund.”
Elder misrepresented the projects, telling investors they could reap high returns with a minimum risk, according to the feds’ case, which stems from an FBI investigation. The CEO falsely promised he’d sunk his own money into the projects while running a Ponzi scheme, which involved paying investors in one project via cash investors had put into another project, according to the allegations.
“Over the 26-month life of the scheme, investors received approximately $8.8 million in payments that Elder purported to be ‘interest’ and ‘principal’ payments,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “In reality, many of the payments consisted of the investments of investors in other funds rather than actual investment returns.”
However, in March of last year, Elder ended payments to investors and told them they should expect to lose the money they’d paid him, according to the feds’ accusations. The developer allegedly explained that he couldn’t complete his real-estate projects because he’d hit on financial hard times.
Sentencing for Elder is scheduled for the week of June 2. A federal district court judge will determine his punishment after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, Justice Department officials said.
“I am so sorry,” Elder told victims who attended his Tuesday hearing, according to the Express-News. “What I did was wrong, and I hope that my actions since the beginning demonstrate a complete willingness to get every dollar back that we can. We have been working on that for about the last year.
Even so, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Seward told the judge in the case that it’s still unclear how much money can be recovered, the daily reports.
“I can’t make any promises at this time or projections,” Seward said. “I can tell you some of the assets are encumbered pretty heavily. Some of the assets are free and clear, so we’ll get a better return for those.”
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