U.S. v. Betts, 13-cr-467, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan)
In the court case, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin sentenced Seth Beoku Betts to four years and three months in prison for defrauding Ball State out of $8 million.
An investment adviser was sentenced Thursday to four years and three months in prison in a Manhattan federal court for defrauding Ball State.
Seth Beoku Betts, 38, misappropriated approximately $8.165 million of investor funds from the university, according to the complaint in June 2013. At the time of the document, Ball State was referred to not by name but as a Midwest university. Betts was arrested June 20, 2013, on a charge of wire fraud for operating a scheme to defraud the university.
In 2008, Betts approached Ball State and told an official that he would use the university's money on its behalf to buy collateralized mortgage obligations then sell them to other buyers for profit.
He had told the official he was principal of Betts and Gambles Global Equities LLC. The official, on behalf of the university, issued three contracts, dated in 2008 for July 3, July 24 and Dec. 9.
Afterward, the official emailed Betts, demanding the money back after the official felt concerns about the investment.
However, he never returned any money to the university. Instead, the court document states he used millions to buy luxury cars and real estate for himself.
“Worse than misrepresenting how he would invest the university’s money, Betts made few investments at all — other than in luxury goods for himself," George Venizelos, FBI assistant director in charge, said in a statement in 2013. "You can’t take someone’s money to invest in mortgages and spend it on Maseratis.”
Betts used $325,000 from the university to buy a Ferrari and a Maserati on Dec. 10, 2008, according to an FBI press release from 2013 that also refers to Ball State as a "public university in the Midwest." A week later, he used $1,545,000 for his purchase of a home in Boynton Beach, Fla. He spent at least $455,000 more on himself — $150,000 of that going toward car payments.
Betts is a native of Sierra Leone who moved to the United Kingdom and received education in the U.K. and in the U.S., from Florida Atlantic University.
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