PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Action News Jax reporter Bridgette Matter will be live with this story at 5 on CBS47:
A Tennessee man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for defrauding investors out of $3 million, according to Don Cochran attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, George David George a 64-year-old Tennesse man who is the former owner of WellCity Inc., was arrested in Ponte Vedra, Florida, after avoiding jail in 2017 in Tennessee.
Authorities say he fled in 2017 and was arrested in Florida, where he was pretending to be a Harvard-educated psychiatrist named Stephen Olivier.
George was initially charged May 2015 with securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, additional charges of wire fraud were added in Feb. of 2017, according to officials.
He was accused of claiming to operate a social media network and making investments that he then pocketed.
During the plea hearing, George pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, securities fraud and money laundering, according to officials. George admitted during the plea that he represented himself as the founder and CEO of WellCity that was supposed to operate a social network devoted to wellness. George solicited millions of dollars from investors by making misrepresentations regarding revenue and assets of the company.
The U.S. attorney's office says that while going by the name Olivier, George treated people, including a 16-year-old boy with depression who was later hospitalized. It says he also defrauded people as car salesman "Stephen Olivier" in Alabama and as businessman "David Brown" in Texas.
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