{"id":442593,"date":"2026-08-25T02:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T02:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/442593\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T02:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T02:38:12","slug":"fresno-man-sentenced-to-52-months-in-ponzi-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/442593\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno man sentenced to 52 months in Ponzi case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Fresno man was sentenced to more than four years in prison for <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/local\/article314676664.html\">his part in a Ponzi scheme<\/a> that stole about $9 million, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office said Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Campbell, 43, was sentenced to 52 months for defrauding investors through his real estate companies Preferred Property LLC and Ampez Rehab Investments LLC, prosecutors said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>He operated the businesses since 2012 and used them to buy, sell, build, and renovate properties, as well as to attract investors, the release said. The Ponzi scheme went into effect in 2018, when he falsely represented how successful the company was, including the return on investment, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>He promised unrealistically high returns through October 2025, garnering more than $9 million through 40 investors, the release said. At least $2.2 million from new investors was used to pay older investors, which is how a Ponzi scheme works.<\/p>\n<p>His victims included retirees who lost money to the promises of big payoffs, an investigator said.<\/p>\n<p>Campbell pleaded guilty in February. He has a restitution hearing scheduled Oct. 22.<\/p>\n<p>        Related Stories from  Fresno Bee<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/profile\/218116650\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787625492_359_Thaddeus Miller smaller.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Thaddeus Miller\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/profile\/218116650\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thaddeus Miller<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    Merced Sun-Star<\/p>\n<p>            Reporter Thaddeus Miller has covered cities in the central San Joaquin Valley since 2010, writing about everything from breaking news to government and police accountability. A native of Fresno, he joined The Fresno Bee in 2019 after time in Merced and Los Banos.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Fresno man was sentenced to more than four years in prison for his part in a Ponzi&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-442593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}