Wilson, Ron - Politician, Ponzi-Scheme - $57.4 ...

Ron Wilson - 19.5 years for Ponzi scheme of $57 million

Ron Wilson is taken into custody after being sentenced to roughly 19.5 years in federal prison for running a $59 million Ponzi scheme.

Former Upstate politician Ron Wilson is now living in Florida at a minimum-security wing of the nation's largest Federal Bureau of Prisons complex.

Wilson, now known as inmate number 24023-171, was sentenced to spend nearly 20 years behind bars after pleading guilty in 2012 to a decade-long Ponzi scheme. Wilson pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and admitted losing $57.4 million from nearly 800 investors, including his brother.

The money came through his now-defunct Easley business, Atlantic Bullion & Coin.

Wilson, a former Anderson County Council member and former state Board of Education member, urged investors, many of whom were retirees, to buy certificates for silver. But he bought almost no silver for his investors and when prices rose for the precious metal there was nothing to back up the investment.

Wilson is staying near Sumterville, Fla., at Federal Correctional Institute Coleman Low, one of six parts of the nation's largest prison complex. The complex is about 50 miles northwest of Orlando and about 75 miles northeast of Tampa.

He is housed at the low-security facility for men, which has three buildings each with two levels. In addition to the minimum-security prison, the complex has an administration building, a medium-security prison for men, a minimum-security prison for women and two high-security prisons for men.

Wilson's days are now highly regimented, beginning at 6 a.m. with lights being shut off at 10:30 p.m.

Along with the 1,865 other inmates in the low-security areas, he was issued four sets of clothes. The publicly available records do not say when Wilson was admitted but in late December he had not been placed in a prison.

He will have access to a yard that includes areas for handball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, walking and fitness. There are ten sports leagues, many restricted to those more than 40 years old.

Music and arts programs afford access to many instruments and various media for arts and crafts along with leisure activities including billiards and calisthenics. Along with much of life inside the prison, the conduct of a prisoner can result in more or fewer restrictions and access to such programs.

The scheduled prison release date for Wilson, 65, is Dec. 3, 2029. He would be 82 at the end of his prison term and would serve additional time under home supervision upon his release.

http://www.independentmail.com/news/2013/jan/07/ron-wilson-at-federal-prison-in-florida/