Miles “Bert” Marshall, 73, in New Yorker, was charged with a $ 95 million Bonzi plan.

Work from an office in the charming village of Hamilton, on the road from the University of Colgeit, prepared Marshall Tax and the sale of insurance. It also took money for what was sometimes called a “8 % box”, which guarantees a lot of annual interest regardless of what happened with the financial markets.

His client publishes the word to family and friends. Do you have a pension egg? Let Bert deal with it. It will invest in local rental real estate and your money will grow faster than the bank.

Marshall was friendly and people. He gave gift bags with maple syrup, pickles and local honey in the tractor called nice sayings such as, “Don’t be SAP. To get the appropriate insurance coverage Miles B. Marshall.”

“He has told you about all the other people who invest. Churches are investing. Fire companies are investing. Doctors invest,” said Kristen Corgan’s client. “So you thought,” well, they are smart people. They will not do it if it’s not fine … Why would you be a suspicious person? “

Then everything came collapsed.

Marshall condemns approximately 1,000 people and organized about $ 95 million in interest and benefits when submitting a request to protect bankruptcy two years ago, according to the guardian files.

This summer, the 73 -year -old businessman was charged with his investment business. He may face prison time if convicted.

Marshall’s lawyers rejected the comment.

The total losses made by Marshall investors are less than the Bonzi plan for millions of dollars Bernie Madouf. But it waves on the horizon in the small city, which includes about 6400 people and the surrounding area largely.

Many investors were Colgate professors, workers, office workers or retirees. Some have lost their lives of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Kurgan and her husband, who owned a restaurant 30 miles (48 km) east, was entitled to about $ 1.5 million.

Now they are wondering how a person who seems reliable, who was carrying annual parties for his customers, could betray them on his birthdays.

“You look at life differently after this happens. It is like,” said Dennis Sullivan, who was about $ 40,000. “It is sad because of what he did in the area.”

A trusted local businessman

Marshall and his wife lived in the Victorian bricks, buildings from his office. Regardless of tax insurance and preparation, he rented more than 100 properties and operated self -storage and printing store.

His parents were gaming an insurance company and a real company in the region, and the name Marshall was respected locally.

Although he resigned from college, he was a federal registered tax professional. For many in the region, he seemed aware of money and kept an elegant office.

“He had French doors, a beautiful carpet, and a large office, and he seemed to be prosperous and reliable,” Corgan said.

Marshall began to take money from people to buy and maintain rental real estate in the eighties. People have regained permission – vouchers of paper with the amount of the written dollar. Withdrawals can be performed with 30 days notification. People can choose to receive regular interest payments.

Participants saw transactions as investments. They were given the loans.

For many years, Marshall has well achieved his promises to pay interest and handle clouds. Share more people with the spread of words. Sullivan remembers how his parents gave Marshall money, then he did so, then his fiancée, then the daughter of his fiancée, then his son, and even his snowy club.

“Everyone is snowing,” said Sullivan.

A number of investors lived in other states, but they have links to the region.

The promise of revenue by 8 % was not noticeable in the 1980s, a time higher than interest rates. But it later emerged with the low rates. Marshall told a bankruptcy procedure that he assumed the estimate of his property to cover the debts.

He said: “It is clear that this is now wrong, but this is what I have always thought about.”

An account with more than $ 90 million in debt

Money stopped flowing by 2023.

Marshall applied bankruptcy protection in Chapter 11 in April, where he announced more than $ 90 million of obligations and $ 21.5 million of assets, most of them in real estate.

He explained in a file that he was transferred to the hospital because of a “serious heart case” that requires two surgery, which cost $ 600,000. With the spread of news about his illness, there was a tour of the notes holders requesting the recovery of their money.

Banking Secretary, Farid Stevens, blamed Marshall’s insolvency for incompetent and borrowing practices from people at higher prices than the market. The guardian claimed that by 2011, Marshall was using new investment money to pay the former investors, which is the distinctive feature of the Ponzi scheme.

Public prosecutors claim that Marshall represents a profitability of his real estate business, and his employees have created “transactions summaries” with fake information about the accounts of the account and the acquired benefits.

Money was transferred to his other business and hundreds of thousands of dollars in investors were spent on personal expenses, including the travel of airlines and external meals, grocery stove and yoga studios, according to public prosecutors.

Marshall customers feel betrayal.

“We left there to accumulate. Well, I have accumulated in his pocket.”

The effects of millions of dollars in losses

Marshall acknowledged that he was not guilty in June on charges of fraud in Grand Larceny and Securities. He is accused of stealing more than $ 50 million.

Marshall’s house and its characteristics It was sold as part of bankruptcy The procedures that continue. People who gave Marshall their money to recover about 5.4 cents on the dollar of asset sales. Possible claims are pursued against financial institutions, according to the commandment.

Paltosenic said that she and her husband owe hundreds of thousands of dollars and now wondering how to pay the doctors ’bills. Sullivan’s mother moved with him after she lost her investments.

In EpWorth, Georgia, you will not see retired Caroline Cole money that she hoped to help increase social security payments. I discovered Marshall despite his uncle, who lived in New York State.

She said, “I am only able to pay my bills and continue.” “Nothing is expensive. There are no trips. You can barely do nothing for grandchildren.”