Brett Michael Bartlett, Wire Fraud, Illinois 2024

URBANA, Ill. – A California man has been sentenced to 15 years and 8 months in prison for defrauding Central Illinois investors out of millions of dollars.

Brett Michael Bartlett, 37, of Fountain Valley, California, was sentenced on November 25, 2024, to 188 months in prison for wire fraud, mail fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering.

Bartlett was also ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release following his imprisonment and to pay $22,502,092.66 in restitution to his victims.

During his previous plea of guilty, Bartlett admitted that he devised a scheme to defraud investors and obtain their money by making materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.

Bartlett, through his companies Dynasty Toys and 7M E-group, purchased items at liquidation sales and resold those items online, especially through Amazon. He solicited and accepted money from Central Illinois investors, first to purchase inventory to be resold by 7M E-group at promised annual returns of 20% to 40% and later to purchase Dynasty Toys’ preferred stock shares, which Bartlett claimed were expected to double in value.

Bartlett admitted that he induced investors to invest by dramatically overstating the success of the companies and the returns that the companies generated for investors, lying about the companies’ assets, failing to disclose the companies’ struggles even while continuing to solicit investments, and using investors’ funds for his own benefit.

For example, Bartlett falsely told investors their existing shares were worth approximately $30 million in total, that Dynasty Toys owned hundreds of millions of dollars of gold assets, and that another company was going to purchase Dynasty Toys for $120 million.

As a result, over 1,000 individuals, including over 50 investors from Central Illinois, invested over $22.5 million with Bartlett, 7M E-group, and Dynasty Toys.

The prosecution presented evidence that numerous victims experienced substantial financial hardship as a result of Bartlett’s fraud scheme, in some cases losing their entire retirement savings.

U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris said that Bartlett’s conduct had life-changing and devastating repercussions for his victims in Central Illinois and across the country.

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