A self-proclaimed advisor who used an underwater scooter while attempting to flee federal investigators pleaded guilty to running a $35 million Ponzi scheme.
California-based Matthew Piercey pleaded guilty last week to wire fraud, money laundering and witness tampering, according to the Justice Department. FBI Sacramento Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel said many clients invested their life savings with Piercey, not knowing his claims were “the empty promises of a Ponzi scheme.”
According to the DOJ, between July 2015 and August 2020, Piercey solicited clients with his purported investment companies Family Wealth Legacy and Zolla (though he personally did not register with the SEC).
According to The New York Times, Piercey solicited investments in securities, crypto mining and life insurance through Family Wealth, while touting Zolla as offering loans with a fixed return. He falsely claimed that his purported algorithmic trading fund (the “Upvesting Fund”) was successful (in reality, there was no Upvesting Fund).
Piercey paid existing clients with new investors’ funds, while laundering the fraud through the office of a Redding, Calif.-based chiropractor. Of the $35 million invested, he paid back about $8.8 million, using the rest of the earnings for business and personal expenses (including hiring a criminal defense firm and paying for two homes).
In 2020, Piercey learned he was under investigation, with investors getting grand jury subpoenas. According to CBS News, Piercey sent his investors letters claiming the subpoenas were because of his “outreach” to then-President Donald Trump about a “bold proposal to rescue the country’s banking system.”
Piercey claimed this was the motive behind the “new levels of regulatory scrutiny,” saying the “only way out” of the financial turmoil “is for banks to open Zolla accounts and stop the bleeding” (the Justice Department considered this notice as attempted witness tampering).
On Nov. 16, 2020, federal investigators tried to arrest Piercey, but he fled, leading them on a car chase through neighborhoods and onto the highway, while being tracked by helicopters, the FBI and California Highway Patrol.
Piercey eventually abandoned his car at Shasta Lake (California’s largest artificial reservoir). According to the Times, he pulled an underwater sea scooter out of his car and hopped into the ice-cold lake before diving. As it was a lake, there was no escape route, and federal agents waited for him to reappear.
According to the Times, Piercey returned to shore after about 25 minutes. Federal agents arrested him but allowed him to change into dry clothes they’d received from Piercey’s wife.
However, the scheme didn’t end there. The DOJ said Piercey used “coded language” with two individuals who visited him in jail to ask them to clear out the contents of a U-Haul storage locker in Redding.
When the FBI searched the locker (rented by Piercey under the fake name “Chadwick Givens”), they found, among others, a wig and ?31,000 in Swiss francs.
Piercey faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud, witness tampering and money laundering count. He will be sentenced on Sept. 4. Two other co-conspirators arrested with Piercey pleaded guilty in 2020 and 2024, with sentencing status conferences scheduled for August.
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