Prosecutors say SC trio promised investors unrealistic returns in ‘Hebrew Boys’ scam

Prosecutors: SC trio promised unrealistic returns

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Three South Carolina men with no business expertise promised to help clients get out of debt, but instead collected millions and spent it on luxury items for themselves, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

The trio called themselves the “3 Hebrew Boys” after the biblical tale of brothers who survived an inferno because of their faith. They are on trial in federal court on nearly 60 federal charges, including mail fraud and money laundering, and face decades in prison and millions in fines if convicted.

Prosecutors say Joseph Brunson, Tony Pough and Timothy McQueen preyed on debt-plagued investors, luring church congregants and even U.S. soldiers serving overseas to invest a total of more than $80 million with their group. They promised daily returns up to 500 percent.

“These men have no financial training or background, but they claim to have figured out how to make all this money,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday said in opening statements in Columbia. “The problem is, none of it turned out to be true.”

Defense attorneys argued their clients didn’t defraud anyone and said they used the money to buy investment properties and pay out more than $30 million to their investors.

“He has gone through the trials that we all go through in life … and he set out to assist people just like him,” said Louis Lang, who represents McQueen. “My client never intended to cheat or steal or deceive anyone.”

The men told clients their money would be invested in foreign currency markets and forced them to sign confidentiality agreements that carried $1 million in penalties if they discussed the deal with anyone, Holliday said Tuesday.

But prosecutors said the men kept the money for themselves, spending it items like a Gulfstream jet, vacation homes and limousines, as well as luxury boxes at professional sports arenas, making some payouts to their initial customers using funds given to them by later clients.

“This wasn’t an investment program,” Holliday said. “This was a Ponzi scheme.”

For a year after their arrests, the three defendants unsuccessfully argued that they be allowed to represent themselves at trial. Several judges repeatedly shot down rambling motions.

The trial is expected to last three weeks and attorneys have not said if the defendants will testify.