SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) — The man behind one of Utah’s largest-ever Ponzi schemes, which netted over $200 million from victims, now knows his sentence.
Gaylen Dean Rust, 62, was ordered Tuesday to serve 19 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty in December to felony counts of wire fraud, money laundering and securities fraud. Rust was also ordered to pay a staggering $153 million to the 568 victims in the case.
Rust was ordered to report to a federal prison by Wednesday, according to the Utah U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A federal grand jury indicted Rust, his ex-wife Denise Rust, and their son Joshua Rust in May 2019 on numerous fraud and money laundering charges, after investigators alleged that the three orchestrated a silver trading Ponzi scheme that bilked hundreds of victims for over $200 million.
In a news release Tuesday, the Utah Department of Commerce called Rust’s actions one of the biggest consumer harms the department has ever seen.
“Ponzi schemes absolutely destroy trust in the investment industry,” said Margaret Busse, the department’s executive director, in a prepared statement. “Without trust, individuals aren’t willing to participate in future opportunities and that affects our entire economy.”
In a plea agreement, Rust admitted that he owned and operated Rust Rare Coin in Salt Lake City from 2002 until 2018. In 2008, Rust began a “silver trading program” that was fraudulent and operated as a Ponzi scheme, according to the…
