‘Cash Flow King’ gets 70 months in prison for $7M Ponzi scheme

Matthew Motil, host of the podcast "The Cash Flow King," was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison on Friday for orchestrating a real estate Ponzi scheme that scammed $7.3 million from at least 63 victims.

Motil, 45, of North Olmsted, Ohio, was a licensed real estate agent who owned and operated several companies from October 2017 to March 2022. He devised a scheme to defraud investors by using his podcast and other marketing tools to position himself as an expert in the field, court documents say.

Branding himself as the “Cash Flow King,” Motil produced and hosted programs which he promoted through social media and his websites. He also authored a book, “Man on Fire,” to further his credibility with investors, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio said in a news release.

Using a combination of marketing tactics, he solicited prospective investors to invest their money with him and his real estate companies as a lucrative way to generate passive income. Motil provided the victim investors with promissory notes that he claimed were secured by mortgages on properties located throughout Northeast Ohio, court documents say.

Unbeknownst to investors, he used the same properties over and over to obtain money from one victim after another, each time providing them with a promissory note purportedly secured by a mortgage. Each victim believed that they were the sole mortgage holder of the investment property and that they would be able to recover their investment through foreclosure if Motil failed to make the payments he promised, court documents say.

Ponzi scheme revealed

Motil deflected mortgage questions from investors by saying that there were long processing times. As he convinced more people to invest with him, he used those new funds to pay earlier investors to keep the Ponzi scheme going.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint, Motil scammed "Investor A" out of more than $577,000, "virtually all of Investor A’s life savings and retirement funds." At one point, "Investor B" told Motil that "he needed to receive his overdue payments because he was being deployed to Afghanistan and would not be able to communicate from there." "Victim C" was a cancer researcher in Florida.

“These victims were deceived and manipulated into handing over their hard-earned money to a shameless and selfish individual for his own benefit,” said acting U.S. Attorney Carol M. Skutnik for the Northern District of Ohio. “Our office will take action to prosecute anyone who preys on the trusting nature of others.”

Motil also used the victim investors’ money to fund his lifestyle. He funded personal expenses such as leasing a large home on Lake Erie and securing courtside seats to Cleveland Cavaliers home games. He also used the funds to pay his credit cards and financially sustain his fitness businesses.

“The 63 victims of this investment/Ponzi scheme are at the forefront of our work, and this conviction reflects our steadfast commitment to justice on their behalf,” said U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Blaine M. Forschen for the Cleveland Field Office. “Together with our federal, state, and local partners on the Secret Service Money Laundering Task Force, we will continue to protect our communities from those who exploit trust and inflict financial harm.”

Motil pleaded guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud on Sept. 5, 2024. Motil was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release after imprisonment and pay $5,085,247.08 in restitution.

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InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.