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An Indianapolis man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison this week after pleading guilty to his role in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, the U.S. attorney’s office announced Tuesday. He was charged in 2019 and entered his plea in 2022.
Herbert “Bert” Whalen, 50, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for misrepresenting the poor conditions of properties managed by his company, Indianapolis-based Oceanpointe Property Management, and creating fake leases for unoccupied units.
Whalen worked with former “Fox & Friends” co-host Clayton Morris, who used seminars and YouTube videos to steer potential investors to Oceanpointe properties. Morris, who co-hosted “Fox & Friends” from 2009 to 2017, moved to Portugal after he was sued by multiple investors. He has not been charged with a crime and has claimed Whalen was responsible for the fraud at Oceanpointe.
Whalen’s original indictment described victims from South Orange, New Jersey, and Plainview, New York, who bought properties in Indianapolis.
Hundreds of those houses were in Indianapolis and acquired by Oceanpointe through tax sales. From 2016 to 2018, authorities said Whalen told investors that once repairs were made and tenants were in place, they would receive rent payments as a return on their investment. However, many of the units managed by Oceanpointe were in disrepair and unoccupied.
To hide this, investigators said Whalen and a conspirator directed Oceanpointe employees to generate fake leases for the unoccupied units using fake tenant names, sending those leases to the investors. He then arranged to pay investors from a fund of pooled rent payments to make it seem as if the vacant units were rented. Investors who expressed concerns about the properties were paid in part to silence them.
To maintain the façade, Whalen also told an Oceanpointe employee to create a false identity and claim on a real estate message forum that they were an investor representing Oceanpointe and another company, and that there were no concerns regarding the status of Oceanpointe properties.
Investigators said these false claims led to millions in losses for Oceanpointe investors.
Whalen’s sentence also includes three years of supervised release following his 41-month prison term.
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