Taken in Ponzi scheme: One person's sad story

This is the story of how one man lost more than $300,000 in a Ponzi scheme, but to do that, we need to go back to the beginning.

We need to trace the beginning of that money back 70 years to really understand what it meant to Maurice Burton, one of 175 people who were bilked out of $145 million by Travis Wright. Wright was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for running a Ponzi operation.

Burton, a sharp, active, motorcycle-riding 87-year-old, lost $320,000, but really it was much more than that. It represented a lifetime of work and savings and sacrifice that grew from a single seed he planted more than 60 years ago.

Burton served as a cook in the Merchant Marine during World War II, living and working on a ship that shuttled oil from Panama into various ports in the South Pacific. For three years, he didn't spend a single penny of the money he earned from the Marine. "Not one penny," he says for emphasis. He lived instead off the tips that sailors paid him for making the sandwiches that sustained them during their late-night poker games. When everyone else went ashore, he remained on the ship to earn extra money. When the war ended, he collected $5,000 from the Merchant Marine and returned to Salt Lake City, where he used the money to buy a house.

A few years later, he sold the house for a $1,500 profit. He bought another house, which he fixed up and sold for another small profit. Then, he bought eight houses, fixed them up and sold them. Eventually, he bought a lot for $6,100 and sat on it for years before selling it for $310,000.

"All of it came from that original $5,000," says Burton, who, besides his real estate dabbling, also worked as a bricklayer and business owner.

With that money, he bought apartments. Some years later he was staring at retirement and wondering what to do with his money. He learned about Wright's "investment opportunity" in 2003 through a business partner and fellow retiree who was getting a 24 percent return from Wright. His partner explained that whenever he felt nervous or compelled to collect his money, Wright would always pay him the promised money — and then he would loan the money right back to Wright.

Who could resist such returns?

"It sounds like a Ponzi scheme," Burton told his partner. "How can he pay that kind of interest?"

His partner replied, "I don't know, but he's doing it and right on time."