Former Cave Creek resident sentenced to 4 years in prison for fraud scheme
Sep 29, 2020, 3:00 PM
PHOENIX — A former Cave Creek resident was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for bilking about a dozen investors out of nearly $2 million through a fraudulent oil well scheme, authorities said.
Kenneth Thomas White, also known as Kenneth Whyte, pleaded guilty in September 2019 to one felony count of transactional money laundering as part of a plea deal.
White, 80, was accused of fleecing 13 investors out of approximately $1,850,000 by selling interests in fraudulent oil drilling projects in Montana and Texas.
The sentence was the maximum allowed under the plea deal for White because of his age and medical issues, which were not specified.
“Mr. White raised nearly $2 million with his fraudulent scheme,” Ismael Nevarez Jr., special agent in charge of the Phoenix Field Office of IRS Criminal Investigation, said in a press release.
“He victimized clients by providing them false reports and enticing them to increase their investment by issuing royalty payments with funds from new investors.”
White also must reimburse his victims up to $1,368,000, according to the deal.
He was indicted in February 2019 on 60 counts of wire fraud, seven counts of mail fraud and 10 counts of transactional money laundering.