He deserves a small towns trust. He owed $ 95 million to what the authorities say was a Ponzi scheme

Hamilton, NY (AP) – Miles “Burt” Marshall has been the man you went to look at in a piece of Upstate New York for decades if you had money to invest but wanted to keep it locally. Marshall prepared tax from an office in the charming village of Hamilton, along the road of Colgate University, and sold insurance. He also took money for what is sometimes called the ‘8% fund’, which has guaranteed a lot in annual interest, regardless of what happened to the financial markets. His clients spread the word to family and friends. Do you have a retirement egg? Let Burt handle it. He will invest it in local rental properties and your money will grow faster than in a bank. Marshall was friendly and folk. He gave away gift bags with maple syrup, pickles and local honey in jars marked with cute sayings such as: “Don’t be a juice. For proper insurance, call Miles B. Marshall.” “He would tell you about all the other people investing. Churches invest. Fire companies invest. Doctors invest,” said one client, Christine Corrigan. “So you would think,” Well, they’re smart people. They wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t good to do … Why are you going to be the suspect one? “Then it all came down. Marshall owed nearly 1,000 people and organizations about $ 95 million to the principal and interest when he applied for bankruptcy protection two years ago, according to the trustee filing. This summer, the 73-year-old businessman was charged with a charge of his investment business being a Ponzi scheme. He may face imprisonment if convicted. Marshall’s attorneys declined to comment. The total losses by Marshall’s investors do not fall from the multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme mastered by Bernie Madoff. But they are large in the small, university village of about 6.400 people and its largely rural environment. Many investors were Colgate professors, laborers, office workers or retirees. Some have lost their life savings of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Corrigan and her husband, who has a 30 -kilometer east restaurant, owed about $ 1.5 million. Now they wonder how someone who looked so reliable, who held annual parties to his clients and even called them on their birthdays can betray their confidence. “You look at life differently after it happened. It’s like ‘Who do you trust? ” Says Dennis Sullivan, who owed about $ 40,000. “It’s sad because of what he did in the area.” Marshall and his wife lived in a brick Victorian, blocks from his office. Apart from insurance and tax preparation, he rented more than 100 properties and operated a self -storage business and a print shop. His parents operated an insurance and property business in the area and the Marshall name is respected locally. Although he stopped going to university, he was a federal entered tax person. For many in the area, he kept knowledgeable about money and a neat office. “He had French doors and a beautiful carpet and a big desk and he just looked like he was prosperous and reliable,” Corrigan said. Marshall started taking money from people in the 1980s to buy and maintain rental properties. People have recovered promised notes – slips of paper with the dollar amount entered. Withdrawals could be made by 30 days notice. People can choose to receive regular interest payments. Participants saw the transactions as investments. Marshall called them loans. Marshall approved his promises to pay interest and withdrawals for years. More people participated as a word distribution. Sullivan remembers how his parents gave Marshall money, then he did, when his fiancé’s daughter, when his son, and even his snowmobile club. “Everyone is snowed in it,” Sullivan said. A number of investors lived in other countries, but had connections to the area. The promise of returns of 8% was imperceptible in the 80s, a time of higher interest rates. But it stood out later when the rates dropped. Marshall told a bankruptcy that he would cover the appreciation of his real estate more than the debt. “It’s obviously false now,” he said according to the filing, “but that’s what I always thought.” The money stopped flowing by 2023. Marshall applied for bankruptcy protection in April, declaring more than $ 90 million in $ 21.5 million obligations and assets, and most of it in real estate. He explained in a filing that he was hospitalized for a ‘serious heart condition’ that needed two surgeries, which cost him $ 600,000. When the news spread about his illness, there was a run on the containers of the note who asked their money back. The bankruptcy trustee, Fred Stevens, blamed Marshall’s insolvency on incompetent business practices and borrowing from people against the above markets. The trustee argued that by 2011, Marshall was using new investment money to pay off previous investors, the feature of a Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors claim Marshall falsely represented the profitability of his real estate business and that his staff earned ‘summaries of transactions’ with false information on account balances and interest. According to prosecutors, money has put in his other businesses in his other businesses and he has spent hundreds of thousands of investors’ dollars on personal expenses, including aviation trip, meals, groceries and yoga studios. Marshall’s clients feel betrayed. “We left it there so it would accumulate. Well, it has accumulated in his pocket, ‘Barbara Baltusnik said about her investment. Marshall pleaded not guilty to charges of major fraud and security fraud in June. He is accused of stealing more than $ 50 million. Marshall’s home and properties were sold as part of the bankruptcy proceedings that continue. People who gave Marshall their money recovered about 5.4 cents on the dollar of the asset sales. According to the trustee, potential demands against financial institutions are pursued. Baltusnik said she and her husband owed hundreds of thousands of dollars, and now she wonders how his doctors’ bills will pay. Sullivan’s mother moved in after losing her investment. In Epworth, Georgia, pensioner Carolyn call will never see money she hoped to improve her payments on social security. She found out about Marshall, although an uncle who lived in the city of New York. “I can just pay my bills and keep going,” she said. “Nothing excessive. No trips. Can’t do anything rare for the grandchildren. ‘