LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A federal grand jury has charged a Las Vegas lawyer for allegedly running a half-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme to fund his lavish lifestyle, documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained said.
Matthew Beasley, 50, faces new federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering, records showed. A grand jury issued the indictment Wednesday. Prosecutors charged Beasley last year in the FBI agent-involved shooting on Mar. 3, 2022, at his home near the 215 Beltway and Ann Road.
Beasley was previously charged with one count of assault on a federal officer for pointing a gun at an FBI agent when they came to his house to talk to him about their investigation, officials said. Beasley refused to drop a gun, leading an agent to shoot him, the department said last year.
More than 600 investors took part in the Las Vegas-based Ponzi scheme involving nearly half a-billion dollars used to buy luxury items and pay off gambling debts, court documents revealed last year.
“Beasley used money from the scheme to buy luxury homes, cars, and recreational vehicles, and to otherwise live an opulent lifestyle,” Wednesday’s indictment said.
Over the course of five years, hundreds of people gave Beasley a total of more than $460 million, the indictment said. The investments were made in $80,000 and $100,000 installments.
According to the indictment, Beasley allegedly collected money from “plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits who wanted to borrow money against their pending settlements with insurance companies and [who] were willing to pay high-interest rates to borrow the money for 90 days.”
A federal lawsuit filed last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Beasley, his law firm and others alleged investors were told they could “purchase interests in insurance tort settlements” and that they would receive at least 12.5% return every 90 days, court documents said.
The scheme allegedly began around 2017 when “Beasley falsely and fraudulently represented to [a person] that he could find plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits who wanted to borrow money against their settlements,” documents said.
“Beasley arranged for [a person] to loan money to purported personal injury plaintiffs and created fake contracts (known as “purchase agreements”) between [that person] and the purported personal injury plaintiffs,” the indictment said.
Beasley was due in federal court on Friday for an initial arraignment on the new charges.
According to the lawsuit filed last year, during the standoff with the FBI, Beasley “repeatedly confessed to an FBI negotiator that… [the] investment scheme was actually a Ponzi scheme that started in 2016 or 2017.”
The state bar suspended Beasley’s law license last year. His lawyer declined to comment Wednesday.
The FBI was asking anyone who may be a victim of the Ponzi scheme to complete the survey to help with the investigation.