August 9, 2016

Michigan announced that James Mulholland, of St. Petersburg, Florida and Thomas Mulholland, of Midland, both 59, have been found guilty by a jury on 8 felonies each for the Ponzi Scheme they ran through their Lansing-based business Mulholland Financial. Starting in 2009 until they filed for bankruptcy in 2010, the brothers raised almost $2 million from investors. They made no mention that their business was in trouble and promised a 7% rate of return from the real estate profits and that the principal and interest were guaranteed and could be liquid within 30 days of making a written request. In reality almost every month from January 2009 to February 2010, Mulholland Financial lost money and new investor money began being used to pay off earlier investors. Mulholland Financial was forced to file for bankruptcy in February of 2010 due to overwhelming debt. By this time there were multiple investigations being conducted into the business practices. The case sat dormant with another agency until spring of 2016 until Schuette’s office picked up the case. Over 250 investors lost $18.3 million. MI

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