Winans family member sentenced to 14 years in prison 5:36 PM EDT 3/3/2013 by Terry Shropshire A member of gospel music’s Winans family was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison Wednesday for an $8 million financial scam that was promoted in church pulpits, according to the Detroit Free Press. Winans, 30, is a third-generation member of one of gospel music’s first families. He’s the grandson of Delores “Mom” Winans and David “Pop” Winans Sr., and the son of Michael Winans Sr., a member of The Winans, a quartet of brothers. His uncle, Marvin Winans, gave the eulogy at Whitney Houston’s funeral. Michael Winans Jr.’s victims spoke in federal court, telling a judge that the scheme to sell Saudi Arabian oil bonds robbed some people of their life savings, caused divorces and fractured many families. “I want to apologize to everyone. … These were decisions that were negligent and irresponsible,” said Winans, a former resident of Jessup, Md. Although Winans said “malicious intent,” he said he continued to collect money even after he learned that the bonds were bogus. Winans lured more than 1,000 investors in 2007 and 2008, some through friends of friends. Winans promised 100 percent returns in two months, but used the money for personal expenses or to pay off earlier investors. More than 600 people are still owed $4.7 million. Winans has performed with his cousins as Winans Phase II. He released his own album in 2011, “My Own Genre.” Winans relied on unwitting friends to round up investors, a trait of a classic Ponzi scheme. When the bonds turned out to phony, investors angrily turned on the people who recruited them. “There are lots of marriages that have been destroyed. I know family members who aren’t speaking to each other,” Tara Hurt told the judge,” according to the HuffPost. U.S. District Judge Sean Cox read from some of the 50 letters written by victims. He said a young woman joined the Army because her family had lost money that was intended for her college education. He made sure to note that Winans made his sales pitch from the church pulpits, a powerful platform to mesmerize the ignorant and naive. “Fraud on good, decent church-going people — that was very, very troubling to me,” Cox said. Cox chose a sentence that was in the guideline range of 12 ½ years to 15 ½ years in prison. “Investor fraud schemes like this one are just a fancy way to steal other people’s money,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 18:22:38 +0000
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