‘Cash Flow King’ says plea deal is imminent to resolve Ponzi fraud case

Matthew Motil, host of the podcast, "The Cash Flow King," has reached a plea agreement with federal investigators to resolve a criminal investigation into an alleged $11 million Ponzi scheme, his attorneys say.

Motil has not been charged criminally, but faces a civil action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a status report filed Monday in that case, his attorneys revealed the criminal probe by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio

"Mr. Motil anticipates the written plea agreement should be finalized within thirty days or earlier," the update reads. "Once the plea agreement is finalized, defendants anticipate being in a position to move promptly towards an agreed resolution in this matter."

In the civil action, the SEC seeks financial penalties, disgorgement of gains and to bar Motil from being allowed to sell securities in the future.

According to the 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.

The SEC claims Motil told investors that he would pay the investors returns on their investments from profits from renovating, reselling, refinancing, and renting the properties. Motil allegedly promoted the same investment properties to multiple investors, telling each of them that they held the "first position" lien.

In one instance, Motil allegedly sold more than $1 million of promissory notes to 20 investors, each note supposedly collateralized by the same property he had acquired for $47,000. Rather than renovate the properties, Motil allegedly used investor money to make Ponzi payments to previous investors and to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

Life of luxury

Motil, 42, and his wife Amy, 35, allegedly spent over $107,000 on a seven-month rental of a lakeside mansion; over $73,000 for courtside seats to the Cleveland Cavaliers; over $45,000 to repay student loans; over $37,000 on purchases from Best Buy; over $23,000 on “Leeny’s Lean Body”; over $22,000 on iTunes, over $14,000 at Starbucks; and over $13,900 at numerous pizzerias. Amy Motil is named as a relief defendant.

Motil ran a website for prospective investors on which he claimed have “investment opportunities ranging from $10,000 to $10 million,” and invited those who visited the website to “Be a Real Estate Investing Badass!” and to “fire [their] boss, quit [their] 9 to 5, and build a business/lifestyle [they] love earning a passive income from real estate investments.”

The website and Motil’s social media accounts offered links to podcasts on Apple and YouTube entitled “The Cash Flow King, The Realest Real Estate Podcast,” hosted by “Doctor Motil.” Motil released approximately 147 episodes of the podcast, court documents say.

"Motil used podcasts and social media platforms to bolster his reputation as an investing expert while fraudulently targeting investors' hard-earned retirement assets, including, in at least one instance, almost the full balance of an investor's self-directed IRA," said Mark Cave, associate director of the SEC Division of Enforcement. "We are committed to holding those who prey on others accountable for their unlawful conduct."

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton 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.

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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.