News: 2011 Press Release

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced today that Victor L. Weber, 55, has been sentenced to three years and eight months in state prison for multiple felonies in a "Ponzi scheme" that he utilized to bilk unsuspecting victims out of approximately $800,000. Weber has also been ordered to make restitution to the victims for the full amount.

"This former agent used his license and position of trust to steal large sums of money from his victims apparently for his own personal gain," said Commissioner Jones. "This sentence should stand as a warning to those who think that they can steal from consumers."

Between December 2006 and March 2009, Weber solicited six victims into purportedly investing money for the payment of life insurance premiums for unnamed third parties. These investment vehicles are sometimes referred to as a STOLI (Stranger Owned Life Insurance). Weber solicited $800,000.00 from six victims that were to be submitted to an insurance company for the payment of life insurance premiums for an unknown party but instead diverted the funds for his own personal use.

Weber, who has remained in custody since he self-surrendered on June 29, 2010, was taken into custody based on an arrest warrant for multiple felonies. A joint investigation conducted by the California Department of Insurance - Investigation Division, Alameda County District Attorney's Office - Consumer and Environmental Protection Division and the California Department of Corporations, revealed Weber's "Ponzi" scheme. Weber doing business as California Covered Risk Insurance and Financial Services (CCR), GEM Funding LLC, Grantor Estates Capital, Inc. (GEC Inc.), and Wings of a Dream Foundation, operated a highly organized and sophisticated Ponzi scheme designed to defraud unsuspecting investors.

Weber used the various businesses to fraudulently solicit investment funds from investors to perpetrate his Ponzi scheme. On December 28, 2010, Victor L. Weber plead guilty to three felony counts: one count of Penal Code 487 grand theft by embezzlement, one count of Corporations Code 25401 unlawful offering or selling of a security and one count of Insurance Code 1733 theft of fiduciary funds.