California resident gets 10 year sentence for $200 milion scam
REDDING – Prosecutors call it one of the biggest real estate Ponzi schemes in California history. A California man allegedly scammed North Coasters out of hundreds of millions of dollars and has been sentenced to 10 years in the ‘big house’.
Gary Armitage 2009 booking photo
Gary Armitage, 62, faced his sentence from a Shasta County Superior Court judge on Monday as he was berated by some victims who spoke out in court. A retired insurance company employee, Ron Johnson of Auburn, called out “All of your words and promises turned out to be lies. Not only did you steal the money we worked our entire lives for to save, you destroyed our ability to trust in others and ourselves!”
James Koenig (left)
In Johnson’s case, Armitage reportedly convinced him and his wife to refinance their home and sell a rental property in order to commit to giving more money to the con man. According to court records, the couple lost $1.2 million.
Armitage had two cohorts- James Koenig, of Redding, and Jeffrey Guidi, of Santa Rosa who defrauded 2,000 investors out of $200 million. Sadly, many of the investors were retirees who were swindled out of their savings.
Four years following his arrest, to four felony counts of conspiracy and securities fraud, in January, Armitage pleaded no contest. In January, Koenig pleaded not guilty after his trial and Guidi pleaded guilty to smaller charges.
The partners in crime sold real estate investments, vowing handsome returns. Most projects didn’t fall through or were never completed. The partners prevailed in pulling money out of investor pockets, using it to pay off previous investors.
Jeffrey Guidi
The more recent victims were supposedly not told of the conundrums emerging out of the team’s investment portfolio. Koenig’s 1986 federal fraud conviction and probation violations curiously never came up either.
After almost a 1.5 year investigation, the men were booked.
Read more:
Auburn Journal: California man gets 10 years for $200 million Ponzi scheme
Press Democrat.com: Armitage strikes plea deal on eve of Ponzi scheme trial
