A Utah man will spend nine years behind bars and pay millions of dollars in restitution after defrauding investors to the tune of $3.7 million.
In a press release, the Department of Justice says Santiago Garcia Gutierrez is guilty of wire fraud, impersonating a federal officer, aggravated identity theft and making a false statement after orchestrating two separate fraudulent investment schemes.
Authorities say that between 2018 and 2020, Gutierrez siphoned more than $2.8 million from a victim by pretending that he was working as a confidential informant for the Department of Homeland Security.
Gutierrez fraudulently claimed that he could use his position to get discounts on exotic cars, planes and vessels that were seized by the US government. He duped the victim into using him as a middleman for purchasing what turned out to be nonexistent luxury assets.
To make the scheme look legitimate, he sent the victim text messages from different phone numbers and made it appear that messages were from a confidential government informant, federal agent and even his own attorney.
Gutierrez also defrauded eight other victims between 2019 and 2024. He persuaded them to invest in federal oil wells he had an ownership interest in, with promises of large returns. The victims did not receive any profit as Gutierrez used the money for his personal benefit, causing investor losses of more than $900,000.
Gutierrez did not pay the federal government royalties on the sale of the oil extracted from the wells, despite knowing that he had to do so.
On top of prison time, Gutierrez was ordered to pay $3.7 million in restitution to the victims and to forfeit $2.85 million.
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