SEATTLE — A Canadian man charged with defrauding Seattle-area residents and others of nearly $6 million while pretending to be a British billionaire was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison.

According to U.S. District Court documents, Keenan Gracey, 28, pretended to sell “pre-IPO” stock that he did not own and had no right to sell.

Sporting a British accent, he claimed to have degrees from the London School of Economics and Oxford University. Gracey also rented expensive cars and homes and claimed he owned them to create the illusion that he was fabulously rich.

Some investors gave Gracey as much as $745,000, believing that they were purchasing stock that would produce up to 60 times the investment. In fact, Gracey simply stole the victims’ money. In all, he collected nearly $6,000,000 from dozens of investors, according to court records.

Gracey’s fraud ended when he was arrested by the FBI in December 2018. He was indicted by a grand jury for wire fraud, money laundering and other charges and eventually pleaded guilty in August. The investigation also revealed Gracey was actually from Canada.