Federal prosecutors have secured a nine-year prison sentence against a California man who ran a Ponzi scheme for more than 25 years.
Edwin Emmett Lickiss Jr., 78, of Danville pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering after taking more than $9.5 million from at least 93 victims from 1998 through September of 2024, says the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Lickiss owned Foundation Financial Group, an investment firm that served clients in California, Idaho and other states.
Prosecutors say he told investors he would put their money into exclusive tax-free bonds with returns as high as 30 percent.
He also said family members had bought the same bonds, that he charged no fees because he had already made enough and that people could pull their money out at any time.
The bonds did not exist.
He used new investor money to pay earlier victims and spent other funds on home renovations, travel, cars, mortgages and credit cards.
FINRA barred him from broker work from August 18th through December 17th of 2014. He kept taking investments during that window.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation handled the case.
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