MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. – A man on Michigan’s west side has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for his role in a fraud scheme.
According to authorities, Trent William Witteveen operated a Ponzi-like scheme involving his timber business that defrauded investors and customers. From 2018 to 2021, Witteveen routinely represented to investors that he secured timber harvesting rights from landowners and promised the investors a significant return if they provided the investment capital necessary to pay the landowner for such rights. Authorities said that in most instances, no contracts existed because Witteveen had already harvested the timber from the properties.
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Witteveen also reportedly misrepresented the true value of the timber on a landowner’s property by purposely inflating the value to an amount higher than what he knew a sawmill would pay for it.
After Witteveen obtained money from an investor, authorities said he would use that money to repay some of what he owed to prior investors to give the appearance that he was paying the promised returns. This caused investors to believe things were going well and would continue to invest with him.
Witteveen was able to obtain more than $2 million from investors and used most of it to pay his own expenses and fund his lifestyle.
In addition to the 41 months behind bars, the court ordered Witteveen to pay $844,282 in restitution to his victims.
