Southern Utah man admits to wire fraud in an $89m investment scheme with over 200 victims

Date: Feb. 2, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

St. George, UT – Today, a Washington County, Utah man admitted to his role in a fraudulent investment scheme that resulted in over 200 victims investing over $89 million, with an outstanding loss of over $77 million.

Matthew Shane Perkins of Washington County pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

According to court documents and admissions made at Perkins’s change of plea hearing, between August 2023 and November 2025, Perkins fraudulently claimed he was a successful day trader with a track record of success. He operated Forged Oak LLC and established a business arrangement with the principal of RentDue Capital LLC. RentDue Capital recruited investors to three separate funds through social media, the company’s website, and meetings with investors. When RentDue Capital received investors’ money, the principal sent the funds to Perkins to day trade.

Perkins made repeated false representations regarding the funds’ performance and balance. This included providing records to RentDue Capital that falsified daily trading performance and altering brokerage statements to inflate the funds’ balance. In early November 2025, for example, Perkins provided RentDue Capital with an altered brokerage statement representing that over $133 million were in the funds. At that time, however, the funds had less than $13 million.

Unbeknownst to investors, Perkins lost tens of millions of dollars in day trading. He also misappropriated millions of dollars from investors for personal expenses, for a down payment on a home, and to purchase a cabin, luxury vehicles, and an airplane, among other things.

In the plea agreement, Perkins agreed to restitution of $77,683,091.96. He also agreed to forfeit money and assets traceable to fraud, including over $13 million, a cabin, an airplane, and multiple vehicles.

Perkins is scheduled to be sentenced July 8, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. before a U.S. District Court Judge in courtroom 2B of the courthouse located at 206 West Tabernacle Street, St. George, Utah 84470.

The case is being investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office, St. George Resident Agency.

Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen P. Dent, Joseph M. Hood, and Travis K. Elder of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah are prosecuting the case.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.