Marietta lawyer gets 10 years for bilking retirees

Ponzi scheme collapsed, leaving attorney owing $28 million to 125 victims

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By CHRISTIAN BOONE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Marietta attorney who bilked hundreds of retirees out of more than $40 million was sentenced today to 10-plus years in federal prison.

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Robert P. Copeland, 47, was also ordered to pay restitution of $16.7 million. He plead guilty in April to wire fraud after investigators uncovered his real estate investment scheme.

“Many victims lost their life savings and retirements as a result of this massive and long-running scam, perpetrated by a lawyer who purposefully solicited retirees,” said U.S. Attorney David Nahmias.

Prosecutors say Copeland guaranteed returns as high as 15 percent every six to 12 months, supplying bogus notes and security deeds documenting the investor’s secured interest.

Copeland personally solicited investors over a five-year period starting in 2004, prosecutors say. The scheme collapsed with Copeland owing more than $28 million to 125 victims. Little, if any, of the funds were actually invested in real estate.