David Jesse

Detroit Free Press

A former "Survivor" contestant was charged Friday with six counts of child porn possession, five counts of larceny and one count of racketeering for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced the charges Friday night against Michael Skupin of White Lake.

“Not only did this man rob people of their hard-earned savings with his financial scams but he victimized innocent children every time he looked at a piece of child pornography,” said Schuette. “This man seems to have no concept or caring for right and wrong and will be prosecuted under the full extent of the law for these horrific crimes.”

Skupin, who appeared on "Survivor: The Australian Outback" and "Survivor: Philippines," was arraigned Friday in 52-2 District Court in Clarkston, according to a news release from Schuette's office.

Skupin is facing the following charges: six counts of possession of child sexual abusive materials, a four-year felony, five counts of larceny by conversion, a five-year felony; and one count of racketeering-conducting a criminal enterprise, a 20-year felony.

Bond was set at $350,000. If bond is met, Skupin must wear a GPS tether, cannot have any unsupervised visits with children or leave the state. Skupin is next toappear in court for a pre-exam conference at 9 a.m. Feb. 19.

An investigation began into Skupin after victims from his alleged Ponzi scheme contacted a local news reporter, the news release said.

He is accused of recruiting investors and friends to take part in his "gifting scheme” called Pay It Forward. Victims allegedly made $10,000 cash investments in the scheme. Their money would then cycle through a chart in which participants were eventually paid out of other new investors’ money. The scheme was discovered when eventually there were no new investors signing and most people in the scheme lost all of their money.

Skupin’s laptop was searched in conjunction with the Ponzi scheme investigation. During the search, investigators discovered images of underage children in sexual situations. The images are alleged to belong to Skupin.

In 2001's "Survivor: The Australian Outback," Skupin stumbled, fell into a fire and was medically evacuated from the show.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj