Another Co-Conspirator Pleads Guilty In California Ponzi Investment Fraud Scheme

Donald John Manning , 71, pleaded guilty Friday for his part in an investment fraud conspiracy that bilked mostly elderly investors out of some $4.5 million. Manning, the former president of The Brixton Group, Ltd., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. The conspirators offered "risk free" investment and returns of 10 percent or more to investors, but instead transferred investment funds from account to account, generating large fees, paying off earlier investors and enriching themselves. According to authorities, Manning was apprehended in Nicaragua in late February 2008. One co-conspirator, Cameron Campbell, an attorney from La Jolla, California, has already pleaded guilty in this case and was sentenced to 63 months in prison and ordered to pay $4.5 million in restitution last April. A third co-conspirator, Joseph Wayne McCool, 61, remains at large and is believed to be in the Philippines (pictured right). Manning is scheduled to be sentenced on April 15 and faces up to 10 years in prison, plus fines and restitution.

Read the story here, here and here.

Read the DOJ's press announcements here and here.

See McCool's Wanted poster here.