WILMINGTON, N.C. – The grimy streets of Greenville were hit by a hard-hitting sentence yesterday as Willard Timothy Sutton, 64, was locked up for over five years for masterminding a massive Ponzi scheme.
Sutton, once a respected figure in the local business community, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $8,986,162 in restitution for his mail fraud. He pleaded guilty on February 26, 2025, to exploiting the trust of hard-working North Carolinians for personal gain.
The scheme, which ran from at least 2019 to 2023, saw Sutton fleece more than 65 victims out of approximately $9 million through his business, Greenville Auto World, LLC (GAW). Federal investigators estimate Sutton collected over $63 million during the offense period.
Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Bubar called Sutton’s actions “a complex and brazen Ponzi scheme” that exploited citizens’ trust. The FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge, James C. Barnacle Jr., echoed the sentiment, stating that the sentence and restitution aimed to bring some sense of justice to the victims.
Between approximately 2012 and 2023, Sutton sold BHPH finance contracts to investors under GAW’s investment program. He falsely assured them their investments were safe and secure, while actually using the funds to pay off earlier investors. The scheme was so cunning that Sutton even forged loan customer signatures and provided fake title documents.
The sentence concludes a years-long investigation by the FBI Charlotte Field Office, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam F. Hulbig leading the prosecution for the government.
RELATED: Greenville Ponzi King Sutton Gets Over Five Years
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Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes|White Collar Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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