Bethany Man To Serve 17 Years In Prison For Operating A Ponzi Scheme

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Earlier this week, BRIAN WILLIAM McKYE, 50, from Bethany, Oklahoma, was sentenced to serve 204 months in federal prison after being found guilty of seven counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in operating a Ponzi scheme, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. In addition, McKye was ordered to serve three years of supervised release after being released from prison and pay $4,566,727.24 in restitution to victims.

Evidence from trial showed that from 2006 through 2009, McKye, did business as Global West Funding Ltd., Global West Financial LLC, Global West Financial LLC, Sure Lock Financial LLC, Sure Lock Loans LLC, and The Wave-Goldmade Ltd. McKye used these businesses to market investment contracts whereby investors were guaranteed a monthly rate of return from 6.5% to 20% for 6 to 60 months. Investors were told they had “100% total control” of their money and that the investments were secured by risk free real estate notes. However, McKye was not a registered investment advisor or broker-dealer in the State of Oklahoma and he used the money he received from investors to pay his own personal and business expenses and some limited returns to investors to keep the scheme on-going. Through this Ponzi scheme, McKye defrauded 83 victim-investors out of over $4.5 million. McKye’s companies were shut down by the Oklahoma Department of Securities in the spring of 2009.

McKye’s original conviction on November 17, 2011, was overturned on appeal. Following a four-day retrial last fall, a jury convicted McKye again in November of 2013 after deliberating for less than 90 minutes. McKye represented himself at trial.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Susan Dickerson Cox.