Prosecutors: SC Trio Promised Unrealistic Returns

MEG KINNARD

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Three South Carolina men with no business expertise promised to help clients get out of debt, but instead collected millions and spent it on luxury items for themselves, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

The trio called themselves the "3 Hebrew Boys" after the biblical tale of brothers who survived an inferno because of their faith. They are on trial in federal court on nearly 60 federal charges, including mail fraud and money laundering, and face decades in prison and millions in fines if convicted.

Prosecutors say Joseph Brunson, Tony Pough and Timothy McQueen preyed on debt-plagued investors, luring church congregants and even U.S. soldiers serving overseas to invest a total of more than $80 million with their group. They promised daily returns up to 500 percent.

"These men have no financial training or background, but they claim to have figured out how to make all this money," Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday said in opening statements in Columbia. "The problem is, none of it turned out to be true."

Defense attorneys argued their clients didn't defraud anyone and said they used the money to buy investment properties and pay out more than $30 million to their investors.