By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review
WAUSAU — A Wausau man who federal prosecutors say defrauded 190 investors out of $14.25 million while using their money to finance travel, vehicles and hundreds of snowmobiles has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison.
Stanley Pophal, 65, was sentenced Sept. 2 by U.S. District Judge William Conley on wire fraud and money laundering convictions, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin. Pophal also was ordered to pay $14.25 million in restitution.
Pophal pleaded guilty April 20.
Federal prosecutors said Pophal operated the scheme from May 2019 through June 2025 using the business name Bright with Silver Inc. He solicited investments in cryptocurrency, real estate flipping, artificial intelligence technology, gold, silver and emeralds.
Many of the 190 investors were 65 or older, prosecutors said.
Pophal persuaded most investors to sign contracts he described as promissory notes that guaranteed returns of at least 20%. He told investors he could produce unusually high returns because of connections in finance, commodities and real estate.
He also told investors their principal was not at risk because he had enough personal wealth to repay them if the investments failed, prosecutors said.
Those representations were false, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Pophal had exaggerated his previous business success and did not have enough personal assets to guarantee investors’ principal.
Instead, prosecutors said, Pophal used most of the money for personal and business expenses, including travel, his mortgage, a private plane and purchases of snowmobiles, motorcycles and vehicles, including a yellow Ferrari.
He also made payments to earlier investors using money from newer investors, falsely presenting the payments as investment returns or interest in what prosecutors described as a Ponzi scheme.
Several victims spoke during Pophal’s sentencing about losing retirement funds and life savings.
Conley said no prison sentence could fully account for the harm caused because Pophal targeted vulnerable people who trusted him, according to prosecutors. The judge said victims continued to grieve the loss of money they had spent years earning and saving.
Investigators seized more than 600 items purchased or financed with investor money, including hundreds of snowmobiles stored in a rented warehouse. Pophal agreed as part of his plea deal to forfeit the property.
“Pophal took the trust his investors placed in him and turned it into a payday for himself, using deceit to steal more than $14 million and live high on other people’s money,” Robert J. Kuszynski, acting special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Chicago Field Office, said in a statement.
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI, with assistance from the Iowa Insurance Fraud Bureau and the Allamakee and Winneshiek sheriff’s offices. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith P. Duchemin prosecuted the case.
