Federal judge sentences west Michigan man for wire fraud scheme

A West Michigan man convicted of wire fraud was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, authorities announced Monday.

William Witteveen, 40, of Montague, was sentenced Monday in the Southern District of Michigan Western District Court in Grand Rapids, said Mark Totten, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.

The judge also ordered Witteveen, who previously owned a lumber company called Titan Timber and Titans Timber LLC in the Pentwater area, to pay $844,282 in restitution to his victims, Totten said.

“Witteveen ran his counterfeit lumber business as a Ponzi scheme, stealing from unsuspecting investors simply to line his own pockets,” Totten said in a statement. “Financial fraud is a serious problem, and the schemes have no end. Today’s sentencing sends the message that my office will vigorously prosecute fraudsters whose lies and misrepresentations cause devastating financial harm to honest and hard-working individuals.”

Witteveen’s attorney, Ryan Maesen, called the outcome “a tragic situation for everyone involved.”

“It was a business that went bad and then turned into a scam,” he said in an email Tuesday. “There are no winners here.”

In the sentencing memorandum filed with the court, Maesen said Witteveen had never been in trouble with the law before the scheme, but his company had run into financial trouble.

“I wish with all my heart that he would come back and take the financial pain and not forge documents and lie,” the note said. “It was his ‘pride’ that kept him from admitting that his business wasn’t going well.”

Maesen’s note also stated that his client did not use the money he received to finance a luxurious lifestyle, but reinvested it back into the company.

“Mr. Witteveen feels bad for hurting other people,” Maesen wrote. “Many of these people were his former father-in-law and people he knew from his church. This damaged his reputation in the community, making it almost impossible for him to live a normal life. He accepts that the victims will never be the same. There are no winners here, only losers.”

Authorities alleged Witteveen orchestrated a multi-year wire fraud scheme between June 2018 and January 2021.

They said he routinely told investors that he had obtained timber harvesting rights from landowners and promised a significant return if they provided him with the capital to pay for those rights. But investors did not know there was no contract regarding the rights because the company harvested the timber earlier, investigators said.

He also showed investors cashier’s checks or money orders issued to landowners to make the deals appear real, FBI agents said. They then told him he would deposit the checks or money orders into his own bank account.

Authorities said Witteveen also lied to his investors about the value of the lumber and how much the sawmill would pay for it.

Prosecutors said Witteveen took money from an investor and then used the money to pay back previous investors or the same financial backer to make it look like he was paying the return he promised. As a result, they said, capitalists continued to invest in his company.

Authorities estimate he raised more than $2 million from his investors and used most of the money to fund his lifestyle.

A federal grand jury indicted Witteveen in March on wire fraud charges. He faced a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

He pleaded guilty to the charge in July, according to court documents.

“Today’s sentencing of former Timber business owner Trent Witteveen highlights the serious consequences of committing financial crimes,” Special Agent in Charge Cheyvoryea Gibson of the FBI in Michigan said in a statement. he said. “Mr. Witteveen abused the trust of his investors for personal gain, harming others and the integrity of our financial systems. Members of the FBI Michigan are committed to protecting Michigan residents by investigating and arresting those involved in fraudulent schemes.”

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@CharlesERamirez

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