Robert Stinson pleads guilty in new fraud case

Robert Stinson Jr., who has a history of financial fraud dating to the 1980s, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to defrauding at least 262 investors of $17.6 million in a Ponzi scheme that was shut down last summer by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13.

Stinson, who has been in prison since April for violating the terms of an asset freeze, could receive a prison sentence of 27 years to almost 34 years, based on statutory sentencing guidelines, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Stinson's scheme collapsed in June 2010 when law enforcement officials raided the Philadelphia offices of his company, Life's Good Inc., which Stinson started in 2006, despite multiple prior convictions for financial and securities fraud in the 1980s and 1990s.

That June 2010 raid ended a lucrative 13-month run, during which Stinson took in $12 million from investors, aided by two financial-advisory firms in Colorado and California that received fees from Stinson for sending investors to Life's Good, according to a court document.

Stinson told clients of Life's Good, which employed 120 at its peak, that the company specialized in making short-term real estate loans that would pay investors a 16 percent annual return.

In reality, Stinson, 56, used the money to invest in numerous unrelated businesses, including a talent agency, a recording studio, a health-care consultant, a sports marketing firm, and an online TV station. He also lavished money on family and friends and made interest payments to some investors.

In November, when criminal charges were filed, following civil action the previous June, Stinson pleaded not guilty.

Stinson's guilty plea Monday covered five counts of wire fraud, four counts of mail fraud, nine counts of money laundering, one count of bank fraud, three counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of obstruction of justice, and two counts of making false statements to federal agents.

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