A Marietta man has been sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for running what prosecutors said was a $110 million Ponzi scheme through which more than 400 people lost their investments.
John J. Woods, a former longtime executive at brokerage and investment bank Oppenheimer & Co., pleaded guilty in March 2023 to a single count of wire fraud. He had already been sued, alongside two companies he controlled, by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Woods, 59, will have to pay up to $49.6 million in restitution and spend three years under supervision once he’s released. The amount of restitution and payment terms have yet to be determined.
“I stand here in front of you very humbled and very remorseful,” Woods told a federal judge during a three-hour sentencing hearing in Atlanta. “I did not steal anything. I had all intentions of my clients making money.”
U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Geraghty acknowledged Woods’ decades of commitment to his family, charitable work and lack of criminal history. Her sentence was below the 10 years prosecutors asked for.
The judge also recognized that hundreds of people, including many retirees, seniors and veterans, lost all their savings due to Woods’ 13-year investment venture.
“The misrepresentations continued year after year after year,” Geraghty said. “That sort of long-term, calculated, premeditated conduct is of significant concern. The victim impact statements in this case were devastating.”
Woods remains on bond, required to voluntarily surrender to federal prison authorities by a date yet to be decided. Geraghty recommended that Woods serve his sentence at the minimum-security federal prison camp in Montgomery, Alabama, upon his request.
In a statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Woods said he appreciated Geraghty’s “thoughtful decision” to impose a sentence less than that requested by prosecutors. He said the judge acknowledged that “there was no theft in this case” and that “investor losses were exacerbated by factors outside of my control.”
“She stated on the record that she agreed that the case was about hubris, not greed,” Woods said of the judge. “The SEC complaint does not accuse me of theft, stealing or greed either, because there was none.”
Prosecutor Angela Adams said Woods’ investment program was a “quintessential Ponzi scheme,” rebuffing his objection to the term. She said the scheme was thoughtful and perpetrated on well-designed lies.
“He knew at all times that this scheme was a house of cards and for 13 years he never stopped lying,” Adams said. “He never stopped covering it up. To suggest that he was doing the right thing by these investors is absolutely outrageous.”
The venture operated from 2008 until it was shut down by the federal government in 2021, when investors in at least 20 different states were owed more than $110 million in principal, prosecutors said. They said Woods, who was a registered broker and investment advisor, guaranteed high returns but failed to make the investments he promised and secretly used money from new investors to pay earlier participants.
Woods ran the investment operation through the companies Horizon Private Equity III LLC and Livingston Group Asset Management Company, doing business as Southport Capital, prosecutors alleged. They said 431 investors collectively lost almost $50 million.
In a 69-page sentencing memorandum, Woods asked that he be sentenced to four and a half years in prison. He said he did not line his own pockets with investor money, and that he genuinely believed his investment program would generate a positive return for investors.
Woods also penned a seven-page letter to the judge, and provided the court with more than a dozen letters of support from family and friends. His wife, Janelle Woods, spoke during the sentencing hearing.
“John would never intentionally hurt anyone,” she told the judge. “He’s not money-driven. He is remorseful and wants to make amends.”
David M. Chaiken, Woods’ attorney, said the SEC exacerbated the amount investors lost by tens of millions of dollars when it sought to place Southport Capital in receivership. He said Woods was heartbroken that investors had suffered, and voluntarily made an early restitution payment of $184,000 on Tuesday.
Chaiken also said that Woods never intended for investors to commit their life savings, which only happened because other investment advisers had violated policy.
Adams said Woods directed the scheme and is the only person who has been prosecuted in relation to it. She said some investors had to work into their 70s and 80s as a result of losing their savings.
Geraghty said Woods “took actions that led people into a false sense of security,” knowing that he was making misrepresentations to investors and that it was wrong to do so. She acknowledged that it appeared other investment advisers involved in the venture had been reckless.
The SEC’s securities fraud case against Woods, Horizon and Southport Capital is ongoing. Woods has been barred from working with investments.
Litigation is also pending against Oppenheimer, which is accused of hiding the truth about Woods’ investment program. Court records show that Oppenheimer has settled some civil claims by Horizon investors.
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