July 10, 2020
A 70-year-old man in North Carolina who pleaded guilty to orchestrating a $22 million Ponzi scheme through his company, Oodles Inc., has been sentenced to 17.5 years in prison and ordered to pay $17 million in restitution. Hal H. Brown Jr. singlehandedly defrauded at least 60 victims—including family, friends, neighbors, and fellow church members—by falsely representing that Oodles owned hundreds of millions of dollars in rights to religious-themed family shows and movies. To bolster his claims, Brown developed marketing material, falsified bank statements and company agreements, and impersonated employees of media companies. USAO WDNC
Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Financial and Investment Fraud, Ponzi Schemes, Securities Fraud,