There's never been a shortage of grifters in society. From the dawn of time, there's always someone willing to trade their morals to make a quick buck off the backs of a gullible public who believes the best in folks. And that's continued at a steady pace, though seemingly ramping up thanks to the internet, into the present day.
Marks are seemingly easy to come by, and you can milk them for all your nefarious needs and hopes of a Scrooge McDuck pile of cash. As is the case, or so prosecutors allege, with Wisconsin's own Stanley Pophal, who took 128 people to the bank and swiped a cool $16 million from them.
What did he use his ill-gotten goods for, you ask? 300+ snowmobiles. Why, what would you spend your stolen cash on?
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Pophal spent his defrauded cash on a luxurious lifestyle, one that also included the aforementioned 300-plus snowmobiles. In a press release, Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, stated his office would be, "charging Stanley Pophal, 63, Wausau, Wisconsin, with wire fraud and money laundering."
The criminal complaint states, "Beginning in 2019, Pophal solicited investors to purchase promissory notes from him with supposedly guaranteed rates of return. In order to lure investors into the scheme, Pophal falsely represented that he was a wealthy businessman. Between May of 2019 and March of 2025, Pophal received more than $15,000,000 from at least 120 investors."
Yet, instead of investing that money and seeking to make a return for those investors, Pophal funded an "extravagant lifestyle, including the purchase of over 300 snowmobiles." And according to Wisconsin Public Radio, Pophal went further than just 300 sleds, with the outlet reporting that Pophal "purchased motocross bikes and race cars," and claimed in different situations to be both a millionaire or billionaire, and that he'd been "blessed by God with good fortune," so he was using it to make others money.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says otherwise, alleging that Pophal's investment business was a Ponzi Scheme, stating, "To keep the fraud scheme going, Pophal also used new investor money to make 'lulling payments' to previous investors to make it appear as though those investors were earning investment returns."
Pophal was arrested last week, made his initial court appearance, and has been detained until further proceedings, so he won't be making off by snowmobile anytime soon.
