Sarasota man sentenced to 23 years for Ponzi scheme

TAMPA — A Sarasota man faces 23 years in prison for running an $80 million Ponzi scheme.

Michael J. DaCorta, 57, was found guilty on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, and filing a false income tax return after a 13-day trial in 2020.

In addition to his 23-year sentence to federal prison, DaCorta was also ordered to pay roughly $2.8 million in forfeiture.

David Walker, special agent in charge of the FBI Tampa Field Office, said in a DOJ news release that DaCorta "surrendered to greed" and scammed millions from "honest, hard-working Americans.

"Today's sentencing confirms the FBI's commitment to hold heartless fraudsters accountable for their actions and ensure justice is served," Walker said.

The investigation into DaCosta was spearheaded by the IRS and the FBI, with assistance provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Futures Association, the Financial Regulatory Authority, and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation.

The charges against DaCosta stemmed from an investment company named Oasis International Group Ltd., which he operated from 2011 to 2019.

According to law enforcement, DaCosta and his co-conspirators convinced 700 people to invest more than $80 million.

DaCorta represented Oasis as being a "market maker," promising enormous profits on investments that were "essentially risk free."

"In reality, OASIS was not making markets and had no true revenue," the news release read.

The actual truth was that Oasis was manipulating paperwork to pay investments back to itself to "create the illusion of revenue" while hiding trading losses.

The balance on investments were used to pay out previous investors, which the DOJ referred to as "Ponzi-style payments."

Investment money was also used to fund "lavish lifestyles" for DaCosta and his collaborators, including trips to Europe, million-dollar homes in Florida and college tuition for family members.

All this time, DaCosta had already been banned from taking part in foreign exchange trading as part of an agreement with the National Futures Association.

DaCorta also under-reported his income. In 2017, he claimed a negative income and actually received a tax refund.

The case against DaCosta was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rachelle DesVaux Bedke and David W.A. Chee, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Murray. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge William F. Jung.