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U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan ordered Antywan Ross to pay $325,404 in restitution and to remain under federal supervision for three years after his release.
Ross, 44, admitted that he never intended to fulfill a promise to repay the Maywood investor with interest within 45 days, through his RDA Group company.
In fact, to make it appear the investment was secure, Ross employed an escrow agent who wouldn’t disburse the investor’s funds until Ross provided proof that at least $1 million in sponsorship money had been committed as part of the Fall 2008 concert series.
Ross didn’t raise a penny, but he did send several bogus letters to the escrow agent within three days after it was wired from a Maywood bank. One purportedly was from a law firm that made it appear that more than $10 million in sponsorship money had been committed, federal authorities said.
Once the money was released, Ross admitted, he went out and bought himself a new car, along with other personal items and services.
Ross conned the investor by saying he needed “to pay startup expenses” for the supposed 2008 concerts in the United Arab Emirates, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said.
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman credited special agents of the Secret Service‘s Newark field office with making the case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew E. Beck of Fishman’s Economic Crimes Unit.
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