Baron Matson, Mail and Wire Fraud, Florida 2000

Tampa, Florida – In a brazen scheme that spanned over a decade, a Brisbane, Australia man, Baron Matson (45), has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for his role in a 1999-2000 international mail and wire fraud scheme that targeted people in Florida, Georgia, and other states.

According to court documents, from approximately fall of 1999 and continuing through early 2000, conspirators Roger Matson, Baron Matson, Gordon Robert Grant, and others, caused a letter proposal to be sent via commercial carrier to persons residing in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and other states.

The proposal was riddled with fraudulent assertions, including that Roger Bronstein, who was actually Roger Matson, was a self-made multi-millionaire who had discovered a method, referred to as the Professional Race Organizer (the “P.R.O.”) program, through which he earned great sums of money working approximately 10 hours per week.

The proposal also claimed that Roger Bronstein owned a private villa on St. Martin, in the Caribbean, and that his business (the business at the core of the proposal) produced a global income in excess of $1 million per year, of generally tax-free income.

Baron Matson, who was identified as his father’s son, “Baron Bronstein,” was touted as the person who personally trained all P.R.O. licensees. The proposal claimed that interested investors would receive a fully paid round-trip airline ticket to St. Martin, where they could meet with Baron Bronstein and experience the lifestyle that P.R.O. was providing for the Bronsteins.

The solicited persons were initially offered an “opportunity” to participate in the P.R.O. program based upon a cash investment fee of $45,000, $90,000, or $135,000 plus a royalty fee on any profits from the first five years of operation based upon the level of investment. However, the scheme took a turn for the worse when the conspirators introduced the Managed Account program, which promised a return on investment of approximately seven to nine percent (7-9%) per month.

Ultimately, substantially all the investors elected to participate in the Managed Account program. To lull the investors and to encourage future investments, the conspirators prepared and forwarded to the investors monthly statements that fraudulently reflected the promised monthly earnings.

On August 23, 2022, Baron Matson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. As part of his sentence, the court also ordered Matson to pay $4,319,762 in restitution and entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $1,285,000, which represented proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.

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