Washington County man sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for wire fraud

Date: Sept. 3, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

St. George, UT – A Southern Utah man was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment after he posed as a ‘savant’ stock trader, obtaining at least $89 million from approximately 200 investors. The majority of the funds were either lost in day trading or misappropriated, resulting in an outstanding victim loss of at least $77 million, which he concealed.

The sentence, imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen, comes after Matthew Shane Perkins of Washington City, Utah, pleaded guilty on Feb. 2, 2026, to wire fraud. In addition to his term of imprisonment, Perkins was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $77,683,091.96 in restitution to the victims.

According to court documents and statements made at Perkins’s change of plea and sentencing hearings, between August 2023 and November 2025, Perkins, who held himself as a “brilliant trader who consistently beat the market and rarely suffered losing days,” engaged in a scheme to defraud over 200 investors. As a result, investors lost $77,683,091.96. Many victims lost their live savings due to Perkins’s fraud. Perkins operated Forged Oak LLC and established a business arrangement with the principal of RentDue Capital LLC. Rent Due 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, an airplane, and a $80,000 hunt in British Columbia, among other things.

“Perkins’s elaborate scheme left a slew of victims in his wake. Many of the over 200 victims were everyday Americans who lost their lifesavings, all to fund Perkins’ extravagant lifestyle including his private plane, cabin, and luxury cars,” said U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak for the District of Utah. “I want to thank our law enforcement partners and the prosecution team for securing a significant sentence—one that we hope will deter others from attempting similar schemes.”

“The sheer magnitude of this investment fraud and the financial harm it caused to hundreds of innocent victims underscores the seriousness of abuse to our financial systems,” said IRS Criminal Investigation San Francisco Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge David Lowe. “Perkins’ lengthy prison sentence and massive restitution order reflects the gravity of the defendant’s actions and makes clear that when someone lies about performance, conceals losses, and siphons off other people’s money for themselves, IRS CI will uncover the truth.”

“Perkins financed a lavish lifestyle by stealing from his victims, stripping away not just their savings, but the hard-earned security they spent decades building,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls of the Salt Lake City FBI. “While no sentence can completely heal that financial and emotional damage, it ensures the defendant faces justice. The FBI will not tolerate fraud and will relentlessly pursue anyone who preys on investors for personal gain.”

The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office, St. George Resident Agency.

Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher Burton, Joe Hood, and Travis K. Elder of The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah prosecuted the case.

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. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 16 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.