Rivas Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Millions

     A local businessman pleas guilty in federal court to defrauding hundreds of people.
     Luis Rivas admitted he ran a ponzi scheme bilked investors out of millions of dollars.
     Officials say it was a very important step towards closure for the victims.
     WDEF News 12's Mandy Odom has the story as we cover the courts.
     Assistant District Attorney General Gary Humble says, "I think it's very important for those people to have him stand up in public and say that he is guilty of defrauding all those people."
     Luis Rivas pled guilty to five counts of money laundering, wire, and bankruptcy fraud in Tennessee and South Carolina Wednesday.
     Prosecutor Gary Humble explained Rivas' ponzi scheme saying he would pay initial investors 60 to 90 percent of their first investment.
     But he did it with money from new investors.
     Humble says, "He was a good salesman, and he would just tell people that he could guarantee them a huge return on their investment, and he knew that wasn't true because he wasn't investing most of the money. Most of the money he was just blowing."
     Rivas spent most of the money on his girlfriends, also buying cars, houses, furniture, and jewelry.
     The bankruptcy trustee Grey Steed recovered some of it, which was sold at auction last September.
     So far, he's recovered 3.5 million dollars to distribute to investors, but he says he won't be able to recover most of the money.
     Steed says, "Most of the investors will never be completely satisfied as to what ultimately is returned to them."
     Steed hopes that Rivas will now help them recover more of the money, since he's plead guilty.
     Rivas faces 75 years in jail and more than a million dollars in fines, plus restitution for the 18 million dollars he defrauded from investors.
     Steed says, "You hear a lot of sad stories in these. I mean, a lot of people were very innocent victims in this matter. They got, they were talked into invested by family members. They invested all of their life savings. A lot of these people will not be able to recover from this."
     Rivas will be sentenced on November 19th in federal court.
     In Chattanooga, Mandy Odom, WDEF News 12.
     Steed hopes more of Rivas' victims will come forward.