A Plano man has been sentenced to 17 and a half years in federal prison for duping investors into believing he had inside information about a Walt Disney theme park and resort project in North Texas, which turned out to be fake.

Thomas W. Lucas, Jr., 35, of Plano, was convicted in February of seven counts of seven wire fraud counts and one count of making false statements to the FBI.

Court documents show from 2006 to 2010, Lucas devised and executed an elaborate scheme to defraud 280 investors out of approximately $20 million. The US Attorney's Office says Lucas pocketed approximately $450,000.

In court documents, the investors said Lucas showed them fake and forged artist sketches, maps, site plans and other documents related to "Frontier Disney Dallas-Fort Worth" to dupe them. The investors planned to flip the land to developers at a profit when the Disney announcement was made.

The Walt Disney Co., which has its headquarters in Burbank, California, repeatedly denied rumors that it planned to build a theme park in North Texas. However, prosecutors said Lucas told potential investors he had a secret source who tipped him off about the theme park.

Prosecutors said the identity of Lucas' secret source varied depending on who he spoke to. When the FBI confronted Lucas about the scheme, he falsely blamed a man he previously met at a methadone clinic — that man is now dead.

Numerous partnerships, joint ventures and limited liability companies were set up to begin acquiring land in the area. In court, the value of the land purchased was subtracted to determine the overall loss which was approximately $20 million.

The 65 investors who invested in options to purchase land lost all of their money, which was slightly over $8 million, and received no interest in land.

Lucas was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $8,456,360.00 to the people who invested in options to purchase land. He was immediately handed over to the U.S. Marshals Service.

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