Greenwich Man Sentenced For Operating Investment Fraud Scheme

A local man will spend time behind bars after admitting to his role in scamming an acquaintance out of nearly $300,000 by offering a non-existent business proposal, then taking and using the provided funds for personal expenses.

Leonid Pollack was sentenced at the Federal Courthouse in New Haven.
Photo Credit: *Pixabay*

Zak Failla

09/26/2019 1:40 p.m.

Greenwich resident Leonid “Lenny” Pollak, 59, has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison following a guilty plea in federal court in New Haven earlier this year to one count of wire fraud related to an investment fraud scheme and one count of illegal monetary transactions.

U.S. Attorney John Durham said that Pollak owned a Norwalk-based company that organized trade shows and expositions throughout the country. In 2013, Pollak convinced an acquaintance to invest $290,000 in a new business venture that was supposed to provide similar services in Ukraine.

Durham said that instead of building a business overseas, Pollak spent nearly all of it on unrelated business and personal expenses, including his home mortgage loan, groceries, clothes, cars, and private school tuition.

Pollak was arrested on Sept. 20 last year and pleaded guilty on March 18. He remains released on a $200,000 bond and is scheduled to report to prison on Monday, Dec. 9.

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