Fresno man sentenced for $9 million real estate Ponzi scheme

August 25, 2026 - 03:10

A Fresno man will spend more than four years behind bars for running a real estate Ponzi scheme that pulled in over $9.1 million from investors. Matthew Campbell, whose age was not listed in court records, received a 52-month federal prison sentence on Tuesday. The judge also ordered him to pay back the full amount he collected.

According to court documents, Campbell promised investors big returns on real estate projects that either did not exist or were never going to happen. Instead of using the money for property deals, he used new investor funds to pay off earlier investors, which is the classic setup of a Ponzi scheme. Some of the money also went to cover his own personal expenses.

The scheme ran for several years and targeted people who trusted Campbell with their savings. Many of the victims were from the Fresno area, and some lost their entire retirement funds. Federal prosecutors said Campbell went out of his way to make the fake investments look real, creating false documents and sending out statements that showed profits that were never made.

Campbell pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud back in 2023. At the sentencing hearing, the judge noted the scale of the fraud and the number of victims affected. In addition to the prison time, Campbell will be on supervised release for three years after he gets out.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service's criminal division. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California handled the prosecution. Court records show that Campbell has already started the process of selling off personal assets to begin paying restitution, though it is unclear how much of the $9.1 million will actually be recovered.