Las Vegas Sports Bettor Sentenced After $7.4 Million Ponzi Collapse
Posted on: May 22, 2025, 04:16h.
Last updated on: May 23, 2025, 09:24h.
- Matthew Turnipseede defrauded 72 investors in betting scheme
- Promised huge returns through sports betting expertise
- Victims included retirees and a cancer patient
A Las Vegas man has been sentenced to five years and five months in federal prison for running a sports betting investment fund that mushroomed into a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.
Between 2015 and 2021, Matthew Turnipseede, 51, defrauded 72 investors in his firm, MoneyLine Analytics, out of around $7.4 million.
His victims included some who had entrusted him with their retirement funds. One victim is a cancer sufferer who has been forced to go back to work after losing her life savings, Cleveland.com reported.
False Promises
Turnipseede promised his victims he could make massive returns on their investments by using his sports betting prowess to place a large volume of small bets on baseball, basketball, football, and European soccer. The only flaw in the scheme was that Tunipseede was a lousy sports bettor.
In November 2024, he pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud in connection to the scheme, which saw him pay initial investors with new investors’ money to make it seem the system was working.
At his sentence hearing on Wednesday, Turnipseede apologized to his victims and asked the judge for clemency, saying that his wife and two teenage children relied on him.
His lawyer, Russell March painted Turnipseede as a “dedicated family man” who never set out to defraud. He was someone who genuinely but mistakenly believed he could grow his clients’ money, and he also lost big on his own bets, according to March.
“This was not a case where he was living the high life,” March said, as reported by Cleveland.com. “At its heart, it was a gambling venture and more akin to problem gambling. The more he lost, the more bets he made.”
Devastated Victims
Some of his victims weren’t so forgiving. One, Jennifer North, said Turnipseede’s “disgraceful” scheme had left her devastated, and she wondered whether she could trust anyone again.
“He did this so effortlessly,” North said. “Without meaningful consequences, he’s not going to change. It’s who he is.”
Of the $7.4 million, Turnipseede used about $2.7 million to pay back earlier investors. He also used some of the money to lease cars, take vacations to Hawaii and Disneyland, and pay for spa trips and country club memberships.
He also concocted phony documents so that it would appear to his victims that their investments were growing.
The scheme collapsed “like a house of cards” in 2021, after some investors asked for their money back, forcing Turnipseede to file for bankruptcy.
In addition to his prison sentence, US District Judge Christopher Boyko ordered Turnipseede to pay $4.7 million in restitution. The case was prosecuted in Ohio, which is where some of his victims lived.
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