Paul Moore IV was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday (December 21) for running a Ponzi scheme that was brazen even by San Diego standards.

According to federal court documents, Moore told investors that his alleged hedge fund, Coast Capital Management LLC, was investing in the stock market.

Moore said he had earned an undergraduate degree in economics from a respected state university, had been a senior analyst with at a large national securities firm, was registered with regulators, and was making fat profits for those investors.

Those were all lies.

He had quit college without earning any credits toward a degree, had never worked for the securities firm he bragged about, was not registered with regulators, and when he put a small amount of money in the stock market, he lost money. Moore sent out fraudulent account statements to investors showing the fat, non-existent profits.

He took in $2.8 million from his victims and spent $1.7 million on travel, shopping, meals, entertainment, and the like. He paid some of the early investors with funds from those who came in later, making Coast Capital Management a classic Ponzi scheme.