By Renee Hickman (July 14, 2022, 7:36 PM EDT) — A Texas man who operated a $13 million “Ponzi-type scheme” must pay back $2.8 million of the ill-gotten gains, a Dallas federal judge ordered Wednesday.
Patrick O. Howard, 49, of McKinney, Texas, pled guilty on Nov. 3, 2020, to persuading more than 100 investors to buy into a private fund and overstating their earning capacity before misusing the money.
Howard told investors they would receive a 12% annual return on the fund, which cost investors $50,000 person per membership unit. But the quarterly cash payments the investors received were made up of other investors’ contributions rather than any capital gains from the fund.
According to a…
