Three-time loser faces 369 years in jail for alleged Ponzi scheme

U.S. prosecutors in Philadelphia charged Robert Stinson Jr., who allegedly posed as a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with running a $17 million Ponzi scheme tied to real estate hedge funds. Stinson is accused of cheating more than 260 investors by promising returns of 10 percent to 16 percent from real estate funds, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said today in an e- mailed statement. Stinson is charged with 26 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, bank fraud, obstruction of justice, filing false tax returns and making false statements. He was arrested today, according to the statement. Stinson, 55, formed Life's Good Inc. and Keystone State Corp. to operate the funds, according to a 21-page indictment. He allegedly told investors the funds made short-term commercial mortgage loans, prosecutors said. Stinson falsely claimed to have degrees from MIT and Pennsylvania State University and a long history of employment in currency trading and investment management. In reality, he was convicted of fraud multiple times and was previously barred from committing securities fraud, prosecutors said. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Stinson in June over the Ponzi-scheme allegations. Regulators said in the complaint that Stinson had a criminal history including three convictions on federal charges of fraud, larceny or both. Stinson allegedly used investors' funds to pay himself and family members and buy expensive cars and vacations, according to the indictment. Stuart Patchen, an attorney for Stinson with the federal defender's office in Philadelphia, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment. If convicted, Stinson faces a maximum possible sentence of 329 years in prison and a $6.8 million fine, prosecutors said.