New York Tax Preparer Charged in $50 Million Ponzi Scheme
From the desk of Jim Eccleston at ÍøÆسԹÏ
New York’s Attorney General announced the arrest of Miles Burton Marshall, an upstate New York tax preparer and insurance agent accused of orchestrating a decades-long Ponzi scheme that defrauded nearly 1,000 investors out of more than $50 million.
Based in Hamilton, New York, Marshall allegedly enticed clients to invest millions in what he called the “Eight Percent Fund.” He claimed their money would fund real estate investments, including property purchases and rental refurbishments. InvestmentNews reports that authorities say Marshall used new investors’ money to pay returns to earlier investors, while also financing personal expenses and other business operations.
According to the Attorney General’s office, Marshall ran the scheme from the early 1990s through March 2023. He consistently misrepresented the profitability of his supposed real estate business, promising an eight percent annual return to investors while concealing the company’s financial decline.
By 2016, Marshall’s liabilities had reportedly surpassed his assets by over $40 million. However, he continued soliciting new investments for another seven years, according to InvestmentNews.
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