Utah businessman got $10M from investors for nonexistent smartphones — now he has to pay it back

SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — A Utah businessman was sentenced in federal court — for the second time this year — after he admitted to using his smartphone company SAYGUS to defraud hundreds of investors out of $10 million.

Chad Leon Sayers, 60, was sentenced to 29 months of imprisonment, with 15 months ordered to run consecutively with his existing 41-month sentence . The judge also ordered Sayers to 12 months of supervised release in addition to paying $10,250,834.53 in restitution and a forfeiture money judgment for the same amount.

From 2006 to 2020, Sayers defrauded about 300 investors and told them his smartphones were “on the brink of a multi-billion-dollar pay-out,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.

Sayers told investors he was developing smartphones — which were named the “V” phone and the “V-Squared” — and said a wireless company agreed to sell the phones, according to the attorney’s office.

“Sayers told investors that they were capable of receiving 100 times their original investment and that funds would go toward the research, design, and manufacturing of the new smartphone, when in fact no cell phones were being manufactured,” the press release said.

Sayers used the money received from investors for personal use, including car payments, shopping, rent, personal credit card bills, and more.

The attorney’s office said Sayers rented out about 26,000 square feet of office space spanning three floors for 10 employees to “create the impression of a successful consumer product technology company.”

Additionally, Sayers sent out newsletters to investors with updates on the development on the phones. He also posted on social media with launch dates of the nonexistent phones 26 different times, but the phone never launched, the release said.

The Utah Division of Securities and the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office investigated the case.

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