A former Anderson County council member convicted of defrauding hundreds of investors in a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme will be free this weekend.
Ronnie Gene Wilson was among the 1,500 people President Joe Biden granted clemency to on Dec. 12. Two South Carolina women were included in the 39 pardons the president granted.
Wilson, who was president of Atlantic Bullion & Coin in Easley, swindled more than 700 investors out of at least $57.4 million for over a decade beginning in 2001 in what prosecutors called one of the largest schemes in South Carolina history. Wilson told investors they were buying silver bullion, but in reality, he kept the money, according to a 2012 U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission complaint. He attempted to cover up the fraud by issuing false statements to investors. The entrapped included surgeons, retired textile workers, teachers and lawyers, the Greenville News reported.
Wilson also served on the Anderson County Council from 2006-2010.
More: $400K in cash, gold, silver found in Ponzi scheme case
U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs sentenced Wilson in November 2012 to a maximum of 235 months in prison and ordered he pay $57,401,009 in restitution to his victims.
In 2014, Wilson was sentenced for conspiracy to obstruct justice for hiding assets and lying to the Secret Service and other law enforcement investigating his company. Another six months were added to his sentence.
Wilson was transferred to a halfway house in 2022 after spending a decade in federal prison. With Biden’s clemency, he will be free on Sunday, according to court records.
“President Biden’s actions appeared to benefit not only Ron Wilson but also other prisoners,” said attorney Beatty Ashmore. He said Childs appointed him “to identify and liquidate assets tied to the Ponzi scheme. Through these efforts, we recovered and distributed many millions of dollars back to the victims.”
Wilson’s clemency was among those serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the COVID-era CARES Act.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Ronnie Wilson convicted in Ponzi scheme granted clemency by Biden