CLEVELAND, Ohio — A popular North Olmsted podcaster who called himself the “Cash Flow King” was sentenced Friday to 70 months in prison for ripping off dozens of victims for more than $7 million in a house-flipping scheme.
Matthew Motil took in money from 65 investors he lured via his podcast and on social media and instead used the money on trips to Disney World, on courtside tickets for the Cleveland Cavaliers and to lease a lakeside mansion.
U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent ordered Motil, 42, to pay back $5 million in restitution and spend three years on supervised release once he is released from prison.
He previously pleaded guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud. Prosecutors sought a prison sentence between 78 and 97 months, along with the restitution.
Paul Flannery, Motil’s attorney, declined to comment.
Motil still faces a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the scheme. A settlement in that case is expected soon, court records say.
In 2017, Motil began posting on social media about investment opportunities and wrote an investment-advice book called “Man on Fire.” He also owned two Alpha Legends Gyms, one in Twinsburg and one in Cleveland.
He promoted his investment scam on his podcast and on social media, where he lured investors with promises of big returns from October 2017 through March 2022.
Motil told investors he would use their money to rehab houses and either sell them or turn them into rentals. He bought 85 properties in Cuyahoga, Richland, Marion and Crawford counties. The properties in Cuyahoga were in Cleveland and Parma.
Motil forged documents and lied to investors about putting the titles in their names, prosecutors said. He took in $11 million in investor money and paid back some of it in Ponzi-scheme fashion — by repaying initial investors with money from later investors, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said that after repaying some initial investors, Motil kept $7.3 million from 63 investors, including an active-duty U.S. Air Force lieutenant and a cancer researcher. Investments ranged from $3,000 to $577,000, according to prosecutors.
Among the properties he bought included a house on Hearthstone Road in Parma. He bought the home for $46,000 and took in $1.3 million from investors, court records say.
Motil rarely put money into the homes and instead spent it on his gyms and his extravagant lifestyle, according to court records.
Along with Cavs tickets and the trip to Disney World, SEC officials said he spent $14,000 at Starbucks, $22,000 on iTunes and $13,900 at pizzerias.
After the scheme collapsed in 2022, he filed for bankruptcy.