78 months, $5.9 million restitution: the Las Vegas operator who ran grant fraud under a dozen names
Gregory Villegas, 37, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty in March 2017 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud over a scheme that defrauded at least 390 small-business owners of more than $5.26 million between 2008 and 2012, by promising to obtain grant funding for them and then keeping the advance fees. U.S. District Chief Judge Gloria M. Navarro sentenced him in June 2017 to 78 months in prison and ordered $5.9 million in restitution.
- Year
- 2017
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $5.3 million
- Victims
- 390
- Schemes
- Government grant scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-15
The facts, as recorded
- Villegas pleaded guilty on March 17, 2017 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, following a superseding indictment filed January 13, 2016.
- With co-conspirators Christine Gagnon and Mickey Gines, Villegas ran companies — including Executive Solutions, Business Funding Services Enterprises, The Grant People, USA Grant Team, USA Grants and National Financial Advisors — that promised to obtain public and private grant funding for small-business owners.
- Prosecutors said Villegas and his co-conspirators never intended to pursue grant funding for victims; the advance fees they collected were the entire point of the operation.
- Villegas admitted operating the scheme under multiple business names specifically to deter consumer protection agencies and police investigators.
- At least 390 victims were defrauded of a total of approximately $5,261,218, from March 2008 to about May 2012.
- On June 30, 2017, Chief Judge Gloria M. Navarro sentenced Villegas to 78 months (more than six years) in federal prison and ordered him to pay $5.9 million in restitution.
- Gagnon pleaded guilty in November 2014; Gines pleaded guilty in February 2015.
Villegas pleaded guilty and was sentenced; the facts of his own admitted conduct are resolved. His co-conspirators’ pleas are likewise final — this is not an allegation still being litigated.
Why this case matters
The number to sit with is 390 — not one grand promise gone wrong, but 390 separate small-business owners, each paying an advance fee for grant funding that was never going to be pursued. This is what the business-targeting version of a grant scam looks like at scale: not a single call, but a telemarketing operation running for four years.
The dozen company names
Villegas admitted the multiple business names — Executive Solutions, Business Funding Services Enterprises, The Grant People, USA Grant Team and more — were not separate business ventures. They were the same operation, relaunched under a new name each time a consumer protection agency or investigator started closing in. That is a documented, admitted evasion tactic, not a supposition about how these operations work.
What it tells you about the scheme
Small-business owners are a specific, recurring target for the advance-fee grant pitch, distinct from the “free money for personal expenses” version aimed at individual consumers. The pitch is the same structure either way — a fee up front for a grant that requires no such fee — but the business-targeting version can run longer and net more per victim, because a business owner chasing capital has both the money and the motive to keep paying one more fee.
The caveat
Villegas pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 78 months with $5.9 million in restitution ordered. A restitution order is not the same as money recovered — the reporting available describes what the court ordered him to pay, not what victims actually received back.
Sources
- Las Vegas Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit $5.3 Million in Advance Fee Grant Fraud Scheme. U.S. Secret Service. Accessed 2026-09-15. Supports: The plea date and charge, the co-conspirator names, the business names used, the victim count and total loss figure, the scheme dates, and the investigating agencies.
- Las Vegas man sentenced to prison for $5.3M wire fraud scheme. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Accessed 2026-09-15. Supports: The sentencing date, the 78-month sentence, the $5.9 million restitution order, the judge's name, and the victim count.