In 2017, Michael David Carroll was in the middle of a nearly six-year sentence for the prior fraud conviction when he began pitching new ideas to investors, promising he would put their money into legitimate business ventures, according to prosecutors.
Instead, Carroll used the funds from new investors to pay off older ones, giving those investors the illusion that they were making a profit, prosecutors said.
“The defendant deceived dozens of investors to preserve his complex financial scheme and fund a lavish lifestyle. Many Ponzi scheme victims do not recover their investment and are often left financially devastated,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno.
Just a few years prior to his 2014 conviction, Carroll was living a lavish lifestyle in Irving, Texas, while working as the agent, director and incorporator of a business called The Salad Bowl Franchise Corporation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Using the corporation as a guise, Carroll would persuade investors—under false pretenses—to purchase a Salad Bowl franchise from his chain of restaurants, prosecutors said.
He would then use that money to fund his personal use of private jet services, luxury vehicles, expensive dinners and suites at NFL games, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. When Carroll was caught, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 70-months in a Texas prison and ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution to his victims, prosecutors said. He also faced…
