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Upstate New York man pleads guilty to stealing more than $50M in Ponzi scheme

A businessman accused of stealing more than $50 million from hundreds of people in upstate New York as part of a massive Ponzi scheme pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges stemming from the fraud, according to the state attorney general.

Miles “Burt” Marshall faces four to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree grand larceny, securities fraud and first-degree scheme to defraud, according to the attorney general’s office, which secured an indictment against him last summer.

Marshall, 74, prepared taxes and sold insurance in the quaint village of Hamilton, near Colgate University. For decades, he also took money for what was sometimes called the “8% Fund,” which guaranteed that much in annual interest. He took money from neighbors, churches and area organizations, with referrals often coming through word-of-mouth.

A bankruptcy trustee later determined that Marshall had been using new investment money to pay off previous investors by 2011. He eventually owed almost 1,000 people and organizations about $95 million in principal and interest, according to the trustee.

Attorney General Letitia James said Marshall also spent his investors’ funds on shopping, vacations and restaurants.

“Miles Burton Marshall scammed his clients out of their life savings and used their hard-earned money to fuel a classic Ponzi scheme,” James said in a prepared release.

An email seeking comment was sent to Marshall’s attorney.

Marshall is scheduled to be sentenced in Madison County Court on June 11.

“I am shocked and a little upset that he didn’t get more time. I don’t feel justice was served,” Dennis Sullivan, who was owed about $40,000, wrote in a text after the plea. “He has ruined so many of our lives.”

Marshall had made good on his promises to pay interest and process withdrawals for many years. But he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023 after a hospitalization for a heart condition and a subsequent run on note holders asking for their money back. He declared more than $90 million in liabilities and $21.5 million in assets.

Grandfather recovering from surgery after bison attack at Yellowstone sent him flying

By WTOP Staff
(CNN) — What started as a yearly trip for a grandfather and his grandson turned into a visit to a Montana hospital after a bison attack at Yellowstone National Park.Carl McDaniel, 65, was hospitalized with a broken femur after a bison charged and tossed him into the air Friday evening at the park’s Bridge Bay Campground, according to McDaniel and the National Park Service.He was visiting the park with his 13-year-old grandson when they decided to take a walk after dinner.Along the way, they encountered a large bison that appeared to be rolling around in the dust and was not bothering anyone, McDaniel told CNN.“We were about a hundred yards away,” McDaniel said. “He was not aggressive; he was not having problems and we took some pictures and decided to walk on.”McDaniel and his grandson snapped a quick photo and continued with their walk, video of the encounter shows. At the same time, a truck drove by, and the driver laid on his horn in what appeared to be an attempt to get the bison to move, McDaniel said. There is no audio on the video.The bison then appeared to become agitated and began running toward the pair.“There was little time to decide what to do. At that point, he was within 100 yards; he could be to us in seconds, so I told my grandson to run in one direction and I went the other to try and draw him away,” McDaniel said.The animal then pushed McDaniel with the top of its head, sending him flying into the air before he hit the ground, the grandfather said.“When I was on the ground immobile, unable to move, he was right on top of me. He could have stomped on me, he could have gored me, he could have done almost anything to take my life, and he did not do so,” McDaniel said.After McDaniel hit the ground, photographer Mike MacLeod, who captured the encounter on video, had to step in, he told Cowboy State Daily.“I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible,” MacLeod said.After the bison took off, people rushed over to McDaniel, who was in a lot of pain, MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. Yellowstone EMS arrived soon after, he said.“Park emergency medical personnel responded and transported him to a nearby hospital,” the National Park Service said in confirming the incident in a statement to CNN.This is the second bison attack at Yellowstone this year. A 12-year-old was injured near Mud Volcano on June 26, according to the agency.After Friday’s attack, “all the people that were there were amazing; they were all positive, they were trying to help as best they could,” McDaniel said. A nurse started tending to his leg, while another bystander held his head.He was then transferred to a hospital in Bozeman, a two-hour journey during which he was in intense pain. He said he was grateful for the paramedic who helped him along the way.McDaniel broke his femur, the body’s strongest bone, in four places near his hip and suffered several bruises. He had surgery Sunday and could stand by Monday.“I will be doing physical therapy for the next few days to get to walk, but it was not as catastrophic as it could have been,” McDaniel said.The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from bison at all times and to never approach the animals. “If the bison follows you, spray bear spray as you are moving away, and seek cover behind nearby trees or cars,” the agency said.Correction: An earlier version of this story understated how far visitors should stay away from bison. The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards from them.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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