Carlos Manuel da Silva Santos, the CEO of Ethos Asset Management, Inc., based in San Diego, has been sentenced to 87 months in prison. The sentencing follows his guilty plea in January 2025 to charges of wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. Santos was involved in a scheme that deceived borrowers into paying over $17 million in upfront loan fees without receiving any loans.
U.S. District Judge Robert S. Huie described Santos' actions as "reprehensible." Santos was arrested on November 13, 2023, upon his arrival in Newark, New Jersey from abroad. According to the plea agreement, Santos and his co-conspirators falsely presented Ethos as a "full-service project financing" company. They claimed that the company provided loans in exchange for upfront fees used as collateral.
Santos admitted to misleading borrowers about Ethos' funding history and financial status. He confessed to using funds from new borrowers to repay others and altering financial statements to inflate available capital falsely. In one instance, he sent a bank statement indicating Ethos had over $100 million when it did not.
Further fraudulent activities included sending falsified annual financial statements showing over $2 billion in assets and forging signatures on these documents. The scheme affected victims internationally across the United States, Brazil, Turkey, and other countries.
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon remarked on the impact of such frauds: “Fraud like this is a calculated abuse of trust.” Shawn Gibson from HSI San Diego emphasized law enforcement's commitment to protecting businesses from scammers: “HSI and our partner agencies are committed to preventing greedy scammers from victimizing and profiting from legitimate businesses."
A restitution hearing will be scheduled later to determine further compensation for victims beyond the acknowledged losses of $17,125,000 suffered by U.S.-based victims.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys E. Christopher Beeler and Carl F. Brooker IV.
Victims of Carlos Santos or Ethos Asset Management are encouraged to contact Homeland Security Investigations at ethos-victim@hsi.dhs.gov.
