After marketing himself as a benefactor of Africa and accusing investors of everything from plotting murder to being drug-crazed sex freaks, attorney Brian Ray Dinning of Suffolk, VA, did away with any further pretense and admitted in court to operating a Ponzi scheme. On Monday the 48-year-old Dinning made a plea agreement with the US Attorney’s office, thereby taking responsibility for a fraudulent venture that bilked over 20 victims out of $2.9 million. With family ties in Canada, Dinning had fled to Toronto last year, where he was arrested in August and extradited to the United States to face trial.
Several investment and charitable programs in South Africa served as the vehicle for Dinning’s scam, which operated from 2005 to 2012. Using NGOs and ostensible development projects for safari parks, gold and diamond mines, and seaside luxury resorts, the Virginia lawyer solicited investors with promises of 10-40% returns on their principal. Dinning also sweetened the deal by claiming the programs would contribute to the health and well-being of local tribes. Yet as it turns out, he never advertised that he was using new clients’ funds to pay off previous clients and settle the lawsuits they brought against him. Dinning also misappropriated investors’ money on items like alimony to his ex-wife, mortgage payments on a sizable house and school tuition for his children.
Dinning managed to use his legal background and connections in South Africa to his advantage in building credibility; he and his brother even took clients on safari tours, showing them properties for prospective development. Investigators on Dinning’s case would establish a clear pattern of fraud, though. As soon as an investor would entrust money to him for one of the Africa initiatives, he would soon withdraw a large amount of it for alimony or house payments. In one particular instance, Dinning promised two victims that $5,000 they contributed would be applied to construct a village church in honor of their deceased 16-year-old daughter. The church was never built- channeling Santa Claus, Dinning’s brother supposedly spent all the cash on Christmas presents for local children.
While professing to be a humanitarian and conservationist devoted to Africa’s future, it seems Dinning also had a strange penchant for harassing elephants. His sentencing is scheduled for October 2nd.
Toronto Sun
BRIAN RAY DINNING
- Age: 48
- Companies: Earth Conservancy, Pure Africa, Honningklip Diamond Mine, Hole in the Wall
- Job: Lawyer, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist
- Alleged Scam: African Development
- Profits: 10-40% annual returns
- Time: 2005-2012
- Amount of Fraud: $2.9 million
- Number of Victims: 23
- Location: Suffolk, VA
- Indictment: 25 Counts of Wire Fraud
- Court: US District Court in Eastern District of Virginia
US v. Brian Ray Dinning Indictment
Brian Ray Dinning Plea Agreement
