Antonio Honorato Silveira, 50, a tax preparer and accountant from Turlock in Stanislaus County, pleaded guilty on Monday to wire fraud in a long-running Ponzi scheme, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant for the Eastern District of California announced, according to reporting of the Justice Department release.

Source: Bitcomme

According to court documents cited by prosecutors, Silveira promised clients annual returns of between 13 and 17 per cent, recorded in signed promissory notes and guarantees, and was given discretion to invest their money in the stock market. Prosecutors said he consistently lost money trading stocks and also diverted investor funds to pay his own expenses.

By 2017 Silveira wrote to three investors, in his own words: 'I no longer have any money, it was all lost.' Prosecutors said he nevertheless continued to solicit new investors. Between 2019 and 2025 nearly 90 investors gave him about $11.03 million (yaani about 1.1 crore dollars), even though, prosecutors said, he knew he could not pay the returns he promised, with only two profitable years in that period.

During the loss years Silveira used about $3.84 million (yaani about 38 lakh dollars) of investor funds as payments to other investors, falsely portrayed as investment returns, prosecutors said. When the scheme collapsed in 2025 he owed investors about $7.19 million (yaani about 72 lakh dollars). More than 25 investors suffered losses that included retirement savings or college funds, delayed retirements, and the sale of a home. Wisevoter, reporting the same plea, said 89 investors were defrauded and that Silveira faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, with sentencing set for Feb. 8, 2027.

Source: Wisevoter

Silveira was scheduled to be sentenced in February 2027. His actual sentence will take federal guidelines and other factors into account, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.