LOS ANGELES — A Santa Clarita man who invested in real estate and sold “coupon bonds” that promised regular interest payments on top of principal repayment has agreed to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge for defrauding investors out of more than $1.7 million, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors also filed a plea agreement in which Skinner agreed to plead guilty to the offense and admitted he fraudulently sold securities. After Empire West experienced financial troubles and Skinner was unable to pay his staff and investors, he established Simple Growth in 2018 and falsely told investors who purchased Simple Growth coupon bonds “that their money would be used to purchase real estate that and Empire West would develop and resell at a profit,” according to the plea agreement.