The founder and CEO of a San Diego-based financial firm who defrauded numerous companies out of millions of dollars was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in federal prison.
Carlos Manuel da Silva Santos headed Ethos Asset Management Inc., which the U.S. Attorney’s Office said caused more than $17 million in losses to victims in the United States. Though Santos’ plea agreement outlines $17,125,000 in losses to three U.S. companies, prosecutors say they will seek to offer evidence at a restitution hearing in the future “that Santos owes significantly more money to various other victims” both here and abroad.
Prosecutors say Ethos offered loans to prospective borrowers who paid upfront fees as collateral, but loan funds were often never provided. Other times, the loans were made up of collateral fees paid by other borrowers.
Santos and others at Ethos also made numerous misrepresentations about the company’s ability to provide loans and, to that end, altered financial statements to falsely represent Ethos’ assets, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
For example, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Santos forged the signature of a bookkeeping firm employee to falsely represent that the firm had audited a financial statement claiming Ethos had over $2.2 billion in total assets. Another time, Santos sent a borrower a bank statement that falsely stated Ethos had more than $100 million, which led the borrower to wire Ethos money.
Santos was arrested in New Jersey in November 2023 and has been in custody since then. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft and was sentenced Friday to 87 months in custody.
One of his defense attorneys, Marcus Bourassa, argued at Friday’s sentencing hearing that the offenses were not tied to greed but rather to a desire to ensure his firm was successful.
Bourassa said Ethos completed numerous legitimate deals but said that at the same time, the company was “substantially over-promising” to its clients.
“He set out in the world hoping to found a company that would be successful and grow the way he thought would fulfill his potential and the expectations of him. Along the way, he made decision after decision to lie in service of that dream,” Bourassa said.
