Former Charlottean sentenced for fraud

A former Charlotte resident has been sentenced to two years in prison and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty in April to charges of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. Michael Francis Egan III, 33, has also been ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution. He was sentenced Dec. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, in Charlotte.

According to court documents, from August 2007 to February 2012, Egan advised others to invest in fictitious business and investment opportunities, including land development and television shows. He also lied about his professional contacts and assets, claiming he partially owned hotels and casinos in Las Vegas and that he was a close associate of a well-known investment mogul. In total, prosecutors say Egan defrauded 14 investors.

According to the bill of information on the case, Egan provided investors with fake brokerage account statements and fraudulently induced an attorney to write them letters claiming that Egan had millions in financial resources. In reality, Egan had less than $11,000 to his name.

Instead of investing the victims’ money, Egan used the funds for personal expenses, such as rent, a car lease, groceries and pet care.

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Conrad Jr. described Egan’s conduct as a “long-term fraud scheme with numerous acts of deception and fraud.”

Egan is reportedly a former child model who, in an unrelated case, filed suit in 2014 against several Hollywood executives, accusing them of sexual assault when he was a minor. Egan later dropped the charges.

Egan will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.