$80M Ponzi Scheme Lands Sarasota Man In Federal Prison: DOJ

SARASOTA, FL — A Sarasota man guilty of multiple charges related to operating an $80 million Ponzi scheme was sentenced Friday to 23 years in federal prison, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Michael J. DaCorta, 57, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, money laundering, and filing a false income tax return.

As part of his sentence, DaCorta is also required to forfeit more than $2.8 million, a portion of what he earned from the scheme, the DOJ said.

From November 2011 through April 18, 2019, DaCorta ran an investment company called Oasis International Group, Ltd. He and his co-conspirators persuaded at least 700 victims to invest in Oasis through promissory notes and other means, causing their victims to lose more than $80 million, according to the DOJ.

DaCorta, who had effectively been banned from conducting foreign exchange trading (FOREX) by agreement with the National Futures Association, convinced his victims to invest in Oasis by falsely claiming that the company was “reaping enormous profits by being a ‘market maker’ and collecting ‘spread’ on voluminous FOREX trades,” the agency said.

He also claimed the opportunity was essentially risk-free and that Oasis was well-collateralized, according to the DOJ. “In reality, Oasis was not making markets and had no true revenue. The ‘spread’ earnings were being paid on each trade by Oasis back to Oasis to create the illusion of revenue, which was published to investors on fictitious account statements and an online investor portal. The online investor portal showed the ‘spread’ credits but concealed catastrophic underlying trading losses.”

DaCorta and his conspirators used the balance of their victims’ money to make Ponzi-style payments to perpetuate the scheme and fund their lavish lifestyles, the agency said.

He used investor funds to buy a Maserati and Range Rovers for his family members, a country club membership, multiple million-dollar homes in Florida, college tuition for family members, flights on private jets, and lavish trips to Europe and the Cayman Islands.

He also underreported his 2017 federal income tax return, claiming a negative income and receiving a tax refund.

“Mr. DaCorta guaranteed his more than 700 clients an ‘oasis’ of an investment, when in reality all they got was a dust bowl of empty promises,” Brian Payne, IRS-Criminal Investigation special agent in charge, said. “Today’s significant prison sentence ordered by the court should offer some measure of justice to all of those impacted by the destructive wake of Mr. DaCorta’s greed and indifference.”

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Futures Association, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Criminal Prosecution Assistance Group and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation.