Monday, March 21, 2011 | 3:28 p.m.
A federal judge in Las Vegas sentenced former Global Express Capital owner Connie Farris to 12 years in prison and ordered her to pay more than $31 million in restitution in a massive mail fraud scheme that victimized hundreds of investors, Nevada's U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said.
The sentence, handed down Friday by U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt, came after Farris, 66, had been convicted in November of 39 counts of mail fraud. The scheme involved investors who gave her millions of dollars for loans they thought were secured by real estate in Nevada, California and Utah.
Farris, a resident of Grover Beach, Calif., was permitted to self-report to prison by July 15.
Farris owned several companies from 2001 through 2003 that purportedly loaned money to real estate developers for the purchase of undeveloped land. The companies operated as one business, Global Express.
Global Express solicited investors through word of mouth and also through newspaper advertisements. The advertisements usually stated that Global Express was seeking investors for first deeds of trust and that they would receive interest at the rate of 14 percent annually.
Farris received millions of dollars from investors for what they thought were projects in Bishop and Rancho Mirage, Calif., Las Vegas and St. George, Utah. Farris and Global Express did not fund or close on any of those real estate loans. Farris and the business also had no interest in the properties and the investors’ funds were not secured with a deed of trust. To avoid being caught, Farris lulled investors into a false sense of security through monthly interest checks and other materials related to their investments.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Pugh and Pat Walsh.
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