Crime & Safety

Lawrenceville Man Sentenced in $18 Million Ponzi Scheme

Roswell woman also sentenced in massive scheme shut down in 2006.

A Lawrenceville man and a Roswell woman were sentenced to prison late Tuesday by United States District Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr. on charges of defrauding investors of millions of dollars in a "Ponzi-type" scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

Geoffrey A. Gish, 57, of Lawrenceville and Myra J. Ettenborough, 56, of Roswell were convicted Sept. 23 on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud.

Gish was sentenced to 20 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the same amount. Ettenborough was sentenced to seven years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and also ordered to pay restitution of $17,245,275. 

“These defendants tricked investors into handing over millions of dollars with promises of high yield trading programs that supposedly offered safety, security and extraordinarily high returns,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a statement. “These well-known schemes are all too common, and investors should be skeptical of offers that sound too good to be true. As long as these scams exist, we will continue to use every resource to bring thieves like these to justice.”

Prosecutors said Ettenborough was office manager for Weston Rutledge, an investment firm originally in Marietta which later moved to Roswell. Gish was the primary salesperson for the firm. According to Yates, Gish and Ettenborough raised approximately $29 million from 2004 to May 2006 from clients who invested in three pooled funds. Investors were promised guaranteed returns of as much as 15 percent per quarter, and received regular statements which purported to show these high returns, prosecutors said.

Investors who requested payment of the earnings on their investment statements, the announcement said, were paid from monies raised from other investors. Prosecutors said Gish and Ettenborough continued their scheme even after an investigation by the Georgia Secretary of State's Office, providing false and misleading information to keep it going. The scheme did not end until May 2006 when the United States Securities and Exchange Commission obtained an order placing Weston Rutledge and the three pooled investment funds into receivership. 

Of the $29 million raised from investors, prosecutors said Gish and Ettenborough used $11 million to pay investors who requested withdrawals or payment of the supposed earnings that their investments were making. The remaining $18 million was gone, the government said, used for a variety of purposes other than the promises that Gish and Ettenborough had made to investors.  

This included approximately $1.2 million that went to Gish and/or his benefit, Yates said, including to purchase a house in his name and for the purchase and upkeep of multiple automobiles. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas W. Gilfillan and Christopher C. Bly prosecuted the case.


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