South Carolina Man Is Sentenced To More Than Three Years For $1M Investment Scheme And Tax Evasion

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Nickolas M. Godfrey, 41, of Fort Mill, South Carolina, was sentenced today to 37 months in prison for securities fraud, wire fraud, and transactional money laundering in connection with a $1 million investment fraud scheme and a related tax evasion scheme, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term imposed, Godfrey was also ordered to serve two years under court supervision and to pay restitution of more than $1.6 million.

U.S. Attorney Murray is joined in making today’s announcement by John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Matthew D. Line, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

According to filed court documents and today’s proceedings, from 2012 to at least 2015, Godfrey obtained more than $1 million by engaging in a Ponzi scheme through his company, Coast to Coast Business Funding LLC (Coast to Coast), which purportedly provided short-term cash advances to businesses. Over the course of the scheme, Godfrey induced at least 20 victims to invest with Coast to Coast, by falsely representing that the company was successfully generating substantial revenue. Godfrey maintained a website for Coast to Coast, which also falsely represented that the company was accredited by the Better Business Bureau. To further solicit investments from victims, Godfrey made numerous false representations to victims, including promising returns of as much as 73.5%.

Contrary to promises made to victim investors, Godfrey used victims’ money to pay for personal expenditures and for the expenses of his other businesses, and to make Ponzi-type payments to earlier victims.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdnc/pr/south-carolina-man-sentenced-more-three-years-1-million-investment-scheme-and-tax