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Milford resident Christopher Sakelarakis, 35, has been sentenced to a term of 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for an investment scheme that defrauded his elderly victim out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Sakelarakis “held himself out as having the necessary qualifications, experience, and abilities to provide investment services to a victim-investor.” Sakelarakis claimed that he had multiple investment clients and was making a substantial profit through day trading. He also stated that he had a contact in an investment firm who provided him with stock tips.
As part of his scheme, Sakelarakis allegedly said he would invest in stocks, options and other financial instruments on behalf of his victim and in exchange, he would keep 10 percent of the profits.
Sakelarakis was provided a $60,000 check by his victim in October 2017. Within days, Sakelarakis withdrew $30,000 in cash, then made additional cash withdrawals at ATMs. Sakelarakis allegedly spent the money at stores that include Armani Exchange, Gamestop, Macy’s and Foot Locker.
U.S. Attorney John Durham said that Sakelarakis also made several false statements in emails to his victim regarding the status of the “investments.” None of the money was ever returned to Sakelarakis’ victim.
As part of his sentence, Sakelarakis was ordered to pay full restitution, plus interest, to his victim. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Dec. 27 last year following his arrest in October.
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