A 70-year-old former Campbell man convicted of wire fraud and money laundering in a $7 million Ponzi scheme was sentenced in U.S. District Court Oct. 5 to five years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced.
Kevin Kyes, formerly of Campbell but most recently a resident of Roseville, was convicted on 17 counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering and one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors said the fraud was part of a Ponzi scheme targeting more than 60 Japanese investors. From December 2012 through July 2015, Kyes worked with a partner, John Holdaway, 74, of Sandy, Utah, to defraud the investors through a business they called Money Management Strategies with the promise of high-speed trading and 100-percent annual returns on investment, prosecutors said.
The investors wired money to bank accounts in Northern California controlled by Kyes and Holdaway.
Evidence brought to Kyes’ week-long trial showed the men spent the money themselves and used it to fund Ponzi-type payments to other investors.
A federal grand jury indicted Kyes and Holdaway in June of 2016.
In October of 2017, Holdaway entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and one count of filing false tax returns. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 16.
In addition to Kyes’ prison term, he was ordered to pay more than $3.6 million in restitution.
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