Jury convicts man of organized crime, Ponzi scheme

A Denver jury has convicted John Reinholdt II of violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, a class-two felony.

Reinholdt was also convicted of conspiracy to violate the same act, another class-two felony, for his part in perpetrating a commercial Ponzi scheme using Lafayette-based business entities to defraud commercial lenders from Colorado and Arizona.

The jury also convicted Reinholdt of seven counts of defrauding a secured creditor, a class-three felony, nine counts of forgery, a class-five felony, and 14 counts of theft, a class-three felony.

According to the 40-count indictment, Reinholdt used at least 19 businesses to obtain loans from “warehouse” lenders at interest rates between 5 percent and 7 percent. He then used the money to make subprime loans with interest rates of at least 11.5 percent to other people. Beginning during 2006, Reinholdt used the money from new warehouse lenders to pay back older lenders. He procured the new loans using nonexistent “straw” homebuyers.

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