Victims Of Man’s Ponzi Scheme Are Angry, Tearful

Gail Brinson retired in 2007 with dreams of traveling and taking care of her children after 42 years as a Jacksonville public school teacher and principal.

To further secure her financial future, Brinson took the $300,000 in her Deferred Retirement Option Plan - also known as DROP - and invested it with a Jacksonville insurance salesman and self- proclaimed financial adviser she'd befriended years earlier.

But the investments that Scott Anderson Hall promised would lead to large returns for Brinson and dozens of other people turned out to be part of a $3 million, 12-year Ponzi scheme that he used to buy commercial property, luxury cars and other items, prosecutors said.

Brinson testified in federal court Monday that her life savings had been stolen by Hall and that she had to return to work in the school system to make ends meet. She retired earning $94,000 annually, but now earns just over minimum wage teaching a reading program.

Hall pleaded guilty to fraud and money-laundering charges in late 2013 and faces more than 10 years in prison after stealing from victims that include other school personnel, prosecutors said. Defense attorneys are arguing for a lot less time and claim the losses were less than $2.5 million.

Brinson, one of several angry and tearful victims to testify during Monday's sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan, said she hopes Hall, 50, doesn't get to see daylight for a long time.

"If I had my way, he'd rot," Brinson said.

The hearing resumes April 9.

Juana Pollock nearly fainted after testifying she lost more than $200,000 in life insurance money and other savings in 2011 after her husband died and a pastor convinced her to invest with Hall. Pollock said the loss nearly left her broke and barely able to care for her daughter, Shanequa, who suffers from Crohn's disease.

"I wanted to make sure she was provided for," said Pollock, 58, a certified nursing assistant. "I believed he [Hall] was a man of his word."

Pollock's daughter, 20, tearfully described her mother's suffering and suggested she was a burden her mother would be better off without. In a rare moment during such courtroom testimony, Corrigan kept Shanequa at the podium and urged her not to blame herself for anything.

"I can only imagine how difficult all of this is," Corrigan said. "You all are better off together."

The victims' testimony was countered by character witnesses for Hall, including his wife, three children - whom Corrigan praised for their poise - and other family and friends. Those witnesses called Hall a good Christian man who cared for his family and community. Some even doubted he was a criminal.

"I don't know what happened to those people's money," said friend Connie Cenac. "I know this man didn't steal it."

That's not the story painted by prosecutors or by Hall in his plea agreement, which led to his conviction on four counts of a 34- count indictment. The other counts were dropped.

The sham investment scheme began in 1999 and ended in 2011. Hall set up a shell corporation, Abaco Securities International, in the Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies, as a sham offshore investment company. Hall was listed as the director of the company that included a website, but whose only location was a post office box.

The victims included current clients and client referrals of various financial companies where Hall worked as an independent agent. He solicited his victims to invest their retirement savings, usually held in Individual Retirement Accounts, in an investment product he described as ASI and promised interest rates sometimes exceeding 12 percent.

Many of the victims were Duval County School Board employees, court records show. Other victims lived in Georgia and North Carolina.

Victims would occasionally request payments from their investments. As is routinely done in Ponzi schemes, Hall would make partial payments to longer-term victims from new investors. But the majority of the funds were deposited into SunTrust accounts set up by Hall and then stolen by him.

Investigators found that Hall created sham account documents to trick people.

Among the victims was Chris Gee, a North Carolina man whose wife purchased a $500,000 life insurance policy through someone who worked part-time for Hall.

When Gee's wife died in 2011, Hall showed up at the funeral, though he didn't know Gee or his wife. Hall then followed the family to a reception, where he convinced Gee to invest the life insurance proceeds with him.

Hall stole about $300,000 of Gee's money, much of which Gee said he planned to use to raise his two young children.

"I intended to invest it and give my kids a head start, something I never had, and maybe to have a better life for myself,' Gee said. "He knew all about what I'd been through. He stole their future. He stole my future."

Hall, who appeared in court in an orange jail jumpsuit, said nothing during Monday's hearing. He'll get his chance next week when his family and the victims return to court to see if Brinson gets her wish that he spends a long time in a darkened cell.Jim Schoettler: (904) 359-4385