Man gets 5 years in prison for wire fraud

The Reynoldsburg man with his own investment firm always had a story for his nearly four dozen clients.

Edward I. Campbell, 41, said he was a former Navy SEAL with international business connections. He told investors his niece had been shot in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

He promised big returns on investments and when there were delays, he told of how international catastrophes or some U.S. agency was holding things up. It was all untrue. “Campbell blatantly and repeatedly lied and violated the trust placed in him by the individuals who invested with him,” said Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, based in Columbus. “Besides falsely representing experience and expertise, he told contemptible lies about a tragic incident.”

In federal court Tuesday in Columbus, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson sentenced Campbell to five years in federal prison on money laundering and wire fraud charges. Campbell earlier had entered a plea agreement to the charges.

As part of the sentence, Campbell also agreed to pay $1,408,854 in restitution — the amount of money he stole from 44 investors between July 2011 and June 2013.