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Samuel Klein, age 66, of Greenwich, was sentenced to 36 months behind bars Tuesday, May 3.
It followed a guilty plea in which Klein admitted to making false representations to an investor in his company, Visual Group LLC, in 2018, the US Attorney’s Office said.
He allegedly told the victim that their $200,000 check would be invested in distressed debt despite knowing that not all of the money would be used for that purpose, prosecutors said.
Distressed debt is another term for bonds that are bought from companies that are either in bankruptcy or on the verge of it.
Instead of investing the money, prosecutors said Klein took the check from New York to Connecticut and deposited it into a bank account in the company’s name before convincing the same investor to pay an additional $50,000.
He was accused of defrauding three more investors between 2016 and 2019, totaling more than $1.2 million.
That money was instead spent on personal and other expenditures, prosecutors said.
Klein pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of property taken by fraud and one count of money laundering.
In addition to his prison sentence, he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 million in restitution. He must also complete three years of supervised release.
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