North Olmsted man sentenced to 5 years in prison for orchestrating $7 million Ponzi scheme

A former finance podcaster and real estate agent from North Olmsted has been sentenced for creating and running a $7 million Ponzi scheme.

According to court documents, 45-year old Matthew Motil used his position as both a licensed real estate agent and an influential finance podcaster to defraud investors between Ocober 2017 and March 2022.

Motil positioned himself as an expert in the financial field using his multiple marketing tactics such as his own podcast, appearences on other programs, social media, multiple websites and his own book titled "Man on Fire." He granted himself the nickname of the "Cash Flow King."

All of this was to further his credibility with investors in his real estate company. Once an investor was interested he would convince them to invest their money through him in properties across Northeast Ohio. 

Each investor would be given a promissory note he claimed were secured by mortages and that if Motil failed to make the payments on the properties the investor could get their money back through foreclosure. Unbeknownst to them the mortages were fake and Motil would reuse properties over and over, telling multiple investors they were the sole owner of the same property.

As new investors came in he would use their fresh funds to pay the dividends of previous investors, allowing him to continue the scheme and take large amounts of money off the top as long as he continued pulling in new victims.

There were 63 victims in total whose money Motil used to fund personal expenses such as a lease on a large home on Lake Erie and courtside seats to Cleveland Cavaliers games. 

Motil pled guilty to securities and wire fraud on September 5 of last year before being sentenced on Friday. 

On top of his 70 month prison sentence he will also serve three years on parole and pay just over $5 million in resititution to his victims. 

Motil's case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service Money Laundering Task Force with significant assistance from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office and Sheriff's Department.