East Bay Trio Sentenced In Fraud Scheme, Must Pay Restitution

EAST BAY, CA — Three East Bay residents have been sentenced in federal court in Oakland to terms ranging from home confinement to three years in prison for their roles in a scheme to sell fraudulent financial guarantee documents, U.S. prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Sharon Ringgenberg, 70, of Martinez, and Craig Scott, 53, of Oakland, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in August 2018 to wire fraud conspiracy. Kenneth Taylor, 57, of San Ramon, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in March.

The scheme consisted of selling documents known as standby letters of credit and proof of funds letters to clients of a company called Success Bullion USA between 2009 and 2012. The documents, which could be used to obtain loans, were fraudulent because they misrepresented the assets of
Success Bullion and the creditworthiness of the clients, according to court documents.

Ringgenberg, who acted as an officer of Success Bullion and provided documents, was sentenced by Tigar on Friday to one year and three months in prison. The judge also ordered her to pay $705,000 in restitution to several victims and forfeit an additional $295,000 in proceeds she
received from the scheme.

Scott, who acted as a broker for the documents, was sentenced Friday to one year of home confinement and ordered to pay $527,575 in restitution and forfeit $20,000.

Taylor was sentenced by Tigar in October to three years in prison and was ordered to forfeit $3.4 million, pay $1.1 million to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and pay $90,000 to a victim of the scheme.

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