URBANA — A California man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for money laundering and defrauding investors in central Illinois.

Brett Michael Bartlett, 37, of Fountain Valley, CA, was also ordered to pay $22.5 million in restitution to his victims.

When he pleaded guilty, Bartlett said he created a scheme to defraud investors and take their money by making false and fraudulent claims, representations and promises using his companies Dynasty Toys and 7M E-group.

Bartlett solicited and accepted money from investors in central Illinois to buy stock to be resold by 7M E-group at promised annual returns of 20 to 40 percent. He later applied for money to buy Dynasty Toys’ preferred stock, which he claimed he expected to double in value.

Bartlett admitted that he exaggerated the success of the companies and the profits they generated for investors, lied about their assets, failed to disclose the companies’ struggles while continuing to solicit investment, and used investor funds for his own benefit.

He told the investors that their shares were worth a total of about $30 million, that Dynasty Toys had hundreds of millions of dollars in gold assets, and that another company would buy Dynasty Toys for $120 million.

More than 1,000 people, including 50 from central Illinois, have invested more than $22.5 million with Bartlett and the two companies.

In May 2020, Bartlett sent checks totaling millions of dollars to investors in central Illinois, but the checks bounced. Bartlett transferred hundreds of thousands more into his personal bank account and took family members and employees to a luxury business retreat.

At the sentencing hearing in Urbana, the prosecution presented evidence that many victims faced financial hardship as a result of the fraud scheme.

Judge Colin S. Bruce, a federal judge in the Central District of Illinois, found that an enhanced sentence was appropriate because Bartlett’s scheme involved sophisticated means.

Bartlett was sentenced to 188 months in prison for wire fraud, mail fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors did not ask for a fine as part of the sentence, so any money recovered from Bartlett would go into restitution to the victims.