Lawyer accused of Ponzi scheme sues FBI agents who shot him

Matthew Beasley, a Las Vegas attorney in federal custody and accused of operating a $500 million scheme, is now suing the U.S. government and the federal agents who shot him during an armed confrontation in March 2022.

While representing himself from his jail cell, Beasley filed a complaint against the U.S. government and three FBI agents over injuries he suffered when he was shot before his arrest.

Last week, he amended the complaint to name the agents: Grahm Coder, Robert Scott and James Mollica.

On March 3, 2022, FBI agents arrived at Beasley’s home to question him about his role in the massive Ponzi scheme, but a shooting broke out when Beasley came to the door holding a firearm, officials have said. A trial in the criminal case is scheduled for May.

In Beasley’s lawsuit, he alleges that FBI agents did not have a warrant to search his home.

Beasley said the agents opened what he considers to be his front door, which led to a closed-in foyer with glass French doors barring entry to the rest of his house.

In court documents, prosecutors described agents walking through an “unlocked gate” into a courtyard “that led to the front door of the residence.”

Beasley claims the officials never said they were with the FBI, although federal prosecutors have written in court documents that one of the agents flashed his badge as Beasley approached the glass door, his body half visible.

Prosecutors said Beasley stepped into view holding a firearm to his head. Beasley maintains he only ever pointed the gun at himself, but he was still shot seconds after coming to the door. He said the agents fired through the glass of the door into his house before they retreated, according to his lawsuit.

At least one agent fired his weapon, shooting Beasley in the chest and shoulder. Beasley’s amended complaint alleges that Coder and Scott were the agents who shot him.

Beasley then remained inside his house for nearly four hours before officials took him into custody.

In December, Beasley spoke with the Las Vegas Review-Journal in a phone interview from custody at the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump.

“I don’t understand how they can get away with walking into my house, shooting me and leaving,” he said.

Both the Las Vegas FBI office and the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

Beasley’s claims include assault and battery, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and a violation of his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure, court records show.

The Ponzi scheme

Beasley was initially charged with assault on a federal officer, but prosecutors dismissed that charge in favor of indicting Beasley in connection with the Ponzi scheme, court records show. He now faces wire fraud and money laundering charges in connection with the Ponzi scheme.

An investigation by The Washington Post, in partnership with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, found that Beasley and his business partner, Jeffrey Judd, used the scheme to target members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Prosecutors have alleged that the scheme, which was started in 2017 and targeted more than 1,000 victims, was pitched as an investment to earn annual returns of up to 50 percent by lending money to slip-and-fall victims awaiting checks after lawsuit settlements.

Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German had started working on the Ponzi scheme story before he was murdered outside his home in September 2022. The Washington Post teamed up with the Review-Journal to complete one of the stories he’d planned to pursue.

Beasley instead used investor money to buy luxury goods and pay off gambling debts, according to a lawsuit filed by the SEC against Beasley, Judd, and five others allegedly involved with the scheme. That lawsuit is in front of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, court records show.

After the assault charges were dismissed, Beasley’s attorneys pushed for him to be released from federal custody. His defense attorneys have long argued that the shooting was mischaracterized by the government. Defense attorney Jacqueline Tirinnanzi argued in court documents that it was “the illegal and unconstitutional actions of three FBI agents” that caused the shooting.

During a detention hearing in April 2023, much of the prosecutors’ arguments for him to remain imprisoned centered on the shooting, even though the assault charge had been dropped.

Beasley’s lawsuit alleges that he was not released from custody because prosecutors “made various false statements and outright lies” during the hearing, including arguing that Beasley pointed a gun at agents, that he barricaded himself inside the home and that a SWAT team had to “breach” his house to end the standoff.

Prosecutors argued that Beasley was aware of the investigation into the Ponzi scheme and knew federal agents were coming to his home when he decided to approach the door holding a gun to his head.

One agent yelled, “easy, easy,” while another told Beasley to “drop the gun,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors allege that Beasley then “pointed the firearm at the agents in a sweeping motion,” prompting the agents to shoot him in the chest and shoulder.

The agents retreated as Beasley lay bleeding just beyond his front door. Beasley said agents did not send in medical help right away and that he called 911 before he was eventually connected to a crisis negotiator.

Negotiating with the FBI

Transcripts from Beasley’s conversation with the crisis negotiators showed that he repeatedly told the FBI not to send SWAT agents or medical personnel into his house, and that he did not want to take the gun off of his chest as he lay inside his house’s entrance.

“I don’t want medical,” Beasley told the negotiator, according to the transcripts. “I want to — I want to die.”

At one point in the conversation, Beasley tells the negotiator to send agents inside “because maybe then that will force my hand and I’ll have to f —ing do it.”

While on the phone with the negotiator, Beasley said “nobody else was involved,” and that his family didn’t know that he “was running a Ponzi scheme,” according to the transcripts. Prosecutors have argued that the conversation amounted to Beasley confessing to the Ponzi scheme.

Eventually, the negotiator convinced Beasley to speak with his son over the phone. The transcript posted in court documents ends shortly after that conversation, after Beasley asked the crisis negotiator to tell his son to go home. The negotiator agreed, promising to call Beasley back in five minutes.

Beasley told the Review-Journal that he allowed SWAT and medical officials into his home.

After officials took Beasley out of the house, he was hospitalized before he was charged with the now-dismissed assault count.

Beasley said he had not reviewed the transcript of his phone call with the negotiator, but he did not deny making suicidal statements.

“If it’s on the tape, it’s on the tape,” Beasley said.

Beasley also declined to speak about details of the Ponzi scheme.

He said he wants the lawsuit to emphasize that it was “negligent” that the agents shot him and “left me to bleed out.”

“It seems the way they’ve presented the case in court about the shooting, they act like I was in some armed shootout with them,” he said. “They act like we were in a gunbattle, and there was no gunbattle.”

If you are thinking about suicide, or are worried about a loved one or friend, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.