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NEWPORT BEACH (CNS) - A 45-year-old Mira Loma man was sentenced Thursday to six months in jail for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims in Orange County in what investigators initially characterized as a Ponzi scheme.
Kenny Rojas, who pleaded guilty May31 to two felony counts of making an untrue statement or omission in connection with a purchase or sale, was given credit for 36 days in jail and ordered to report for jail by May 3 of this year, according to court records. Orange County Superior Court Judge Derek Johnson ordered the defendant to pay $1.3 million in restitution.
Rojas will be placed on five years of formal probation.
Co-defendant Brian Lee Kissinger, 54, of Irvine, also pleaded guilty to the same charges last year. He was scheduled to be sentenced March 25.
The two had been facing dozens of felony counts of making an untrue statement or omission in connection with a purchase or sale with sentencing enhancements for aggravated white-collar crime between $100,000 and $500,000 and aggravated white-collar crime exceeding $500,000.
Newport Beach police Detective Shawn Dugan said in a court filing in 2019 that the two were engaged in a "scam resembling a Ponzi scheme."
They were accused of "recruiting unsuspecting victims to invest in buying liens on distressed real estate properties," Dugan said.
The victims invested in Kissinger's company, Aria Management Group, and "wrote large checks as part of their investment in the company," Dugan said.
The defendants "misrepresented the company and the investments, causing the victims to lose their money as a result," Dugan said.
Kissinger was accused of causing $832,000 in losses to victims, while Rojas was accused of causing $642,500 in losses, Dugan said.