By admin 
SCOTTSDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — A Scottsdale man was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison after a jury found he helped run a years-long investment fraud scheme that cost investors tens of millions of dollars.
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The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado said Michael Shawn Stewart, 63, received a 288-month sentence and was ordered to pay $93,273,838.16 in restitution.
Stewart was convicted in May 2024 of 14 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Prosecutors said Stewart and Bryant Edwin Sewall, 59, ran companies known as Mediatrix Capital and Blue Isle Markets, which operated on several Caribbean islands. They told potential investors they had an algorithm-driven foreign currency trading program — often called “forex” — with a long, successful track record.
Authorities said those claims weren’t true. Prosecutors said the companies did not have the years of consistent profits they advertised and that investors were shown account statements that highlighted only winning trades while hiding major losses.
By the end of the scheme, prosecutors said Stewart and Sewall had promised investors more than $179 million, but only about $9.8 million remained in their accounts — a shortfall they allegedly referred to internally as “the hole.” Prosecutors said the pair collected about $28 million in performance fees and generated more than $45 million through additional fees, then spent the money on luxury items including real estate, boats, cars and jewelry.
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Sewall was sentenced in November 2024 to 23 years in federal prison after being convicted on the same charges, prosecutors said.
“Stewart and Sewall stole millions of dollars from unsuspecting clients so they could give themselves lives of luxury. Instead, they bought themselves decades in federal prison and have been ordered to pay $93 million to the people of whom they took advantage,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly said in a news release. “To others who think they might want to get rich by defrauding their clients, we look forward to uncovering your scheme and bringing you to justice.”
A third partner tied to the companies, Michael Young, previously pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission and was sentenced in 2024 to one year and one day in prison.
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