Florida Developer Richard L. Thompson Sentenced to 4 Years for Latten Management Land Ponzi Scheme

Case from 2015–2017 (U.S. Attorney's Office release: July 22, 2015; later developments are from court records and other sources cited below). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Richard L. Thompson, a Sarasota, Florida, businessman, was charged in July 2015 with running a Ponzi scheme that sold shares in his real estate company, Latten Management LLC, on the false claim that it owned more than 200 acres of Tennessee land, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced [1]. Prosecutors said he took in about $2.1 million.

Outcome: Thompson pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2016 and was sentenced in May 2017 by U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr. to four years in federal prison, two years of supervised release and $2,265,572 in restitution, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing court records [2].

How the scheme worked

According to the criminal information as summarized by prosecutors [1]:

1. The land story: Thompson founded Latten Management in Florida in 2007 to develop vacation properties in Tennessee. He told investors from early 2009 to April 2011 that the company owned three properties: Green Mountain, Green Ridge Park and Catawba Peak.
2. What was true: Thompson personally held the first two (54 and 15 acres) in his own name, with mortgages, and never transferred them to the company. He and others bought the 217-acre Catawba Peak and defaulted on the loan around February 2009, leaving about $9.8 million owed. Latten never owned it.
3. Tours and concealment: He gave investors tours of all three sites while hiding that the company owned none of them and that the Catawba Peak loan was in default. He also filed false documents with the SEC, the information says.
4. Personal loans: He separately obtained about $667,000 in unsecured personal loans, claiming the money would go to Latten projects.
5. Where money went: He used investor money for his home mortgage, family credit cards, electric bills, college tuition, life insurance and a Lexus, and to make Ponzi-style payments to earlier investors.

One investor in west suburban Naperville moved $125,000 in retirement savings to buy Latten shares. Losses were put at about $1,652,000 for share investors and about $500,000 for lenders, the information alleged.

The person sentenced

Richard L. Thompson, 60 when charged, Sarasota, Fla.

• Charge: one count of wire fraud, by criminal information filed July 21, 2015 [1].
• Plea: guilty, summer 2016 [2].
• Sentence (May 2017): four years in prison, two years of supervised release, $2,265,572 restitution [2].

Red flags

• A developer who won't show you the deed. Land "owned by the company" should be in the company's name in county records.
• Site tours offered as proof of ownership.
• Requests for personal loans from the promoter on top of your investment.
• Using retirement savings for a private, unregistered real estate deal.

What to do if you're targeted

1. Look up the property in the county recorder's or register of deeds' records and check for mortgages and defaults.
2. Check the offering with your state securities regulator and the SEC's EDGAR database.
3. Report investment fraud to the SEC at sec.gov/tcr.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Richard L. Thompson, Sarasota, Fla.	N.D. Ill. (Judge Dow)	Charged July 2015; pleaded guilty 2016; sentenced May 2017 to 4 years; $2,265,572 restitution	[1], [2]

The sentence was imposed in 2017; we have not found a source on Thompson's current custody status.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Real Estate Developer Charged With Swindling Investors In $2 Million Ponzi Scheme," July 22, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/real-estate-developer-charged-swindling-investors-2-million-ponzi-scheme
2. Chicago Tribune, "Man gets prison in $2.3M swindle of Naperville investor, others," May 20, 2017. https://www.chicagotribune.com/2017/05/20/man-gets-prison-in-23m-swindle-of-naperville-investor-others/

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