#U.S. DECEMBER 8, 2017 / 5:57 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Fugitive, convicted of $100 million Ponzi scheme, escapes from prison

Reuters Staff
2 MIN READ

(Reuters) - U.S. authorities are searching for a fugitive who escaped a federal minimum-security work camp in California, where he was being held for duping investors out of more than $100 million, local media reported.

Frederick Darren Berg, 55, on Wednesday walked out of the U.S. Penitentiary Atwater Satellite Prison Camp, where he was serving a 18-year sentence for what is considered the state of Washington’s biggest Ponzi scheme, the Seattle Times reported, citing the U.S. Marshals Service.

Berg pleaded guilty in a Seattle federal court in 2012 to defrauding more than 800 investors of more than $100 million through a series of funds for real estate investments he ran for about a decade. He was also ordered to pay more than $140 million in restitution, the newspaper reported.

He used the money that he bilked out of investors to fund a lavish lifestyle that included purchasing million-dollar properties in Washington and California, Lear jets and several yachts, the Times reported.

“More than 800 victims suffered losses from Berg’s schemes – losing dreams of retirement, home ownership or educational opportunities for children and grandchildren,” Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle, told the Times. “Darren Berg will be captured, held to account and returned to federal custody.”

Reporting by Brendan O'Brien, editing by Larry King