North Palm man gets 4 years for scheme

A North Palm Beach man who loaned money to former Lake Park jeweler Anthony Simpson was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for fleecing investors out of more than $5 million as part of a government contracting scheme.

David Webb, 59, chief executive officer of G4i Capital Partners, was accused by federal prosecutors in Virginia of defrauding more than 70 investors there and in other states by falsely claiming the company had more than $3.5 billion in government contracts. It had none.

He promised investors returns of up to 18 percent if they would loan his company money in connection with startup costs on the phony contracts. While Webb paid some early investors interest and a few even got their principal back, prosecutors said he spent more than $3 million on personal expenses and loaned a sizable chunk to an unidentified friend who was trying to start his own government contracting business.

Webb, who pleaded guilty in October to inducing interstate travel to defraud, was sued in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in West Palm Beach in connection with a loan he made to Simpson, former owner of Shamrock Jewelers on Northlake Boulevard, who is wanted on criminal charges in two states.

In that suit, court-appointed trustee Robert Furr said Simpson borrowed $500,000 from G4i Capital Partners for Rollaguard, a company the jeweler formed to manufacture a high-tech security briefcase he invented. Charging interest rates of $25,000 a month, Webb received nearly $450,000 back from Simpson.

But, Furr said, the high-interest payments violated Florida’s usury laws, which means Webb isn’t entitled to keep the money. Webb previously had been barred from engaging in predatory lending practices in Arizona and California. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Erik Kimball in January ordered Webb to turn over $471,000 to Furr to repay those who invested as much as $12 million in Rollaguard, which turned out to be a sham.