A Boothbay Harbor man has been sentenced to over eight years in prison and must pay restitution of over $3 million after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in United States District Court in New Haven, Conn.
Garrett “Denny” Denniston, 62, of Boothbay Harbor, was sentenced today to 97 months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised released and must pay $3,048,969 in restitution, according to courthouse staff.
Denniston was arrested in September on the charge of defrauding multiple investors out of approximately $1 million, and plead guilty to a single charge of wire fraud in February, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office press release. At the time of his plea, the figure in question had grown to more than $2.5 million defrauded from more than 50 victims, according to the release.
“This defendant operated an investment fraud scheme by representing to investors that he ran a successful investment business and could offer them a special ‘friends and family’ deal investing in companies for a guaranteed return of their investment plus a high rate of interest,” said U.S. Attorney David Fein in the release.
Denniston operated a Connecticut company called ConsensusOne, LLC through which he represented himself to be operating a successful business with a specialization in mergers and acquisitions, and would convince people to invest in non-existent investments, according to the release.
Instead of investing the funds, Denniston would spend the money on personal and business expenses, gifts to family members, mortgage payments, and other bills, according to the release.
Denniston covered his activities by faking legal documents, forging signatures, and using funds from a given investor to pay others, according to the release.