BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A former western New York businessman who fled to Vietnam after being charged with bilking investors out millions of dollars has pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 30-year-old Michael Wilson entered the plea Tuesday in federal court in Buffalo.
Prosecutors say Wilson defrauded investors out of more than $10 million over a two-year period ending in July 2010 by creating several bogus investment companies supposedly based next door to his estate in the town of Hamburg.
Instead of investing the funds, Wilson used some of the money for a down payment on local properties and luxury vehicles.
Wilson, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, fled to Vietnam in February 2016. He was sent back to the U.S. last December.
He’ll be sentenced Oct. 25.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.