UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Music producer Michael Winans Jr. sentenced to 14 years in prison

|
 
Published: Feb. 28, 2013 at 8:31 AM

DETROIT, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Detroit has sentenced music producer Michael Winans Jr. to nearly 14 years in prison for his role in an $8 million investment scheme.

Winans, 30, is a member of the famous Winans family of gospel music performers. Convicted on wire fraud charges, he was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years, nine months in prison and ordered to pay $4.8 million in restitution to his victims, The Detroit Free Press reported.

Prosecutors said his scam hurt 1,200 investors by tearing apart their marriages, causing them to lose their homes, destroying their college plans and wiping out their life savings.

Before sentencing Winans, U.S. District Judge Sean Cox admonished him for taking advantage of "good, decent, churchgoing people."

"That is very, very troubling to me. ... You used ... churches to perpetuate this fraud," the Free Press quoted Cox as saying.

"I did make mistakes," Winans admitted at his sentencing, acknowledging he caused "financial and emotional damage."

"For that I repent," Winans told the judge, insisting there was no "malicious intent on my part."

"I wanted people to have a good life," he said.

Recommended Stories
© 2013 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional Music Stories
1 of 16
Flags-In Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery
View Caption
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Roskos with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard," participates in the annual Flags-In ceremony, May 23, 2013, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Soldiers place American flags in front of more than 260,000 gravestones in the cemetery in honor of Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
fark
Actual headline: "Police give patrol cars to civilians, hilarity immediately ensues"
Deaf Chinese orphan adopted by American audiologist scheduled to get new type of cochlear implant....
Zookeeper goes in to feed tiger. Succeeds
NJ Transit shuts down train line based on a sighting of a man armed with "a long barrel assault...
On this week's episode of Some People are Capable of Amazing Feats: 17-year-old homeless girl becomes...
Photoshop this intrepid photographer