A jury convicted Marina Brooks and Charles Brooks of conspiring to commit wire fraud in a $9.5 million investment scheme.

A jury guilty verdict is a finding of guilt on the count the jury returned. It is not a sentence. On Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, Marina Brooks and Charles Brooks were convicted of conspiring to commit wire fraud in the Eastern District of Texas. The IRS and FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth reported the same verdict and that each faces a statutory maximum of up to 20 years. A statutory maximum is exposure at sentencing. It is not the term the court has imposed.

According to the IRS Criminal Investigation announcement and evidence described at trial, the defendants ran a multi-year investment fraud scheme that targeted Hispanic victims, including U.S. citizens and immigrants. They solicited investments in entertainment and cryptocurrency ventures, including through radio advertisements, with promises that investments would earn 100 percent, that private-company shares would only go up, and that one cryptocurrency carried no risk. Prosecutors said they used much of the investor money for themselves and to recruit more victims, taking at least $9.5 million from over 700 investors. Those figures are the trial record as the government summarized it. They are not a sentencing judgment.

U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs said the couple stole life savings and retirement earnings. FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter T. Thomas and Ashlyn Scott prosecuted. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the U.S. Probation Office completes presentence investigations. A calendar after a verdict is process. It is not the prison term. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.