More than 400 people have been taken for a financial ride as three men (Kevin B. Merrill, Jay B. Ledford and Cameron R. Jezierski) have been indicted in an alleged $364 million Ponzi scheme. According to an indictment from the Federal prosecutors in Baltimore, the 400+ victims/investors were told the trio would be buying up consumer debt portfolios. They were told they would be making money when either the debt portfolios were sold to third-party debt buyers for a profit or they collected payments people made on their debts. Instead, the trio opened phony companies that resembled consumer debt sellers, told falsehoods about who they were buying debt portfolios from, created false records, and used $73 million of the investment to fuel their lavish lifestyle. This lifestyle included a number of real estate properties and a large number of cars and motorcycles. Here’s a list of the cars the prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of from two of the defendants named in the indictment:
Merrill’s Cars
- 2014 Ford Explorer
- 2014 Lamborghini Aventador Roadster
- 2014 Mercedes-AMG S63
- 2015 BMW S1000R Motorcycle
- 2015 Harley-Davidson VRSCDX Night Rod Special Edition Motorcycle
- 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB
- 2017 Audi R8 5.2 Plus
- 2017 Lamborghini Huracan Spyder
- 2017 Land Rover Range Rover
- 2017 Land Rover Range Rover Sport
- 2017 Porsche 911 Turbo S
- 2017 Rolls-Royce Dawn
- 2017 Rolls-Royce Wraith
- 2018 McLaren 720S
- 2008 Bugatti Veyron
- 2013 Ferrari California
- 2014 BMW M6 Gran Coupe
- 2014 Ferrari F12berlinetta
- 2014 Pagani Huayra
- 2015 Mercedes-AMG S63
- 2017 Cadillac Escalade ESV
- 2017 Lamborghini Aventador
- 2018 Ferrari 488 Spider
- 2018 Lamborghini Huracan
Ledford’s Cars
- 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB
- 2016 Tesla Model S
- 2015 Bentley Flying Spur
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Maryland, this Ponzi scheme is “one of the largest ever charged in Maryland.” Unfortunately for some of these victims, they are still in the dark as to what’s happened with their investment. “Most of these investors are just learning that they have been victimized,” said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur in the press release. “We urge anyone who thinks they may be a victim to contact the FBI at www.FBI.Gov/MerrillLedford or e-mail MerrillLedford@fbi.gov.”
Sources: Justice.gov, BaltimoreSun.com, Image via Bugatti
