Federal authorities arrested an alleged swindler on Friday for perpetrating a Ponzi scheme to defraud victims in a number of scam real estate investments.
According to prosecutors, 62-year-old Wilson Baston collected over $10 million by enticing would-be investors between 2018 and 2023 using his company, Gordon Management Group — promising a guaranteed return-on-investment and quick profits.
Victims falsely believed that Baston was using their money on real estate deals in the New York City area.
Instead, the alleged crook used new investments to repay some older clients, garnering their trust and making them believe that he had successfully steered their money and yielded positive returns.
Once he had convinced his marks that he was a true real estate wizard, Baston would convince them to invest even more money, prosecutors say.
“This fraud, like many Ponzi schemes, guaranteed large returns on investment, but proved too good to be true,” said Michael Driscoll of the FBI.
After squeezing as much as he could from his prey, Baston pulled the rug out from under the victims — ceasing to pay out the promised “profits,” while both providing “increasingly outlandish excuses” or ignoring their overtures altogether.
In addition to using new investments to temporarily-satisfy existing clients, he also used the would-be investment money on personal expenditures, such as payments for luxury cars, according to prosecutors.
To help himself perpetuate the Ponzi scheme, the alleged con artist used the fake name “Chanon Gordon” when dealing with clients, which helped conceal his previous conviction on 17 counts of mail and wire fraud — a result of him carrying out a similar gimmick. For that crime, he was sentenced to prison in 2008, and was released in 2017.
“As alleged, Wilson Baston used a fake name to conceal his prior convictions and to solicit more than $10 million as part of a series of brazen real estate scams against innocent New Yorkers,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a statement.
Authorities charged Baston with wire fraud and securities fraud on Friday, each of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars. He was also hit with one count of aggravated identity theft, which could land him an extra two years in prison.
