I'm with Bill Clinton

San Diegan Daniel Christian Stanley Powell this week was convicted in Orange County federal court of fleecing investors of $5.2 million with his "reverse life insurance" scam. The federal judge who heard the case sent him right into custody to await sentencing March 13 of next year. The maximum sentence could be 260 years in federal prison.

Powell's company, Christian Stanley, told victims he would use their money to buy life-insurance policies from individuals; the company would pay premiums and be the beneficiaries of the policies. He told investors he had $1.9 billion in reverse life-insurance policies. But the government found he owned no such policies.

Powell made a $35,000 donation to a foundation and got a picture of himself with Bill Clinton; that became part of the sales pitch. Despite getting almost no revenue, he planned to take Christian Stanley public, and the Securities and Exchange Commission intervened. At his trial, it was shown he knowingly drafted false documents for the public offering.