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Ponzi Scheme

‘Crypto Con Man’: Imprisoned Instagrifter Gets 7 Federal Years For $8M Fraud Scheme ‘Crypto Con Man’: Imprisoned Instagrifter Gets 7 Federal Years For $8M Fraud Scheme
‘Crypto Con Man’: Imprisoned Instagrifter Gets 7 Federal Years For $8M Fraud Scheme UPDATE: Imprisoned Instagram influencer “Jay Mazini” apparently thought that rolling on his partners in crime could mitigate the damage of a conviction for scamming investors out of at least $8 million. Three years into a mandatory four-year New Jersey state prison sentence for kidnapping an online critic, the 28-year-old Instagrifter from Bergen County agreed to rat out his friends in exchange for leniency in a federal fraud case in Brooklyn. Trouble is: He didn’t deliver much, authorities said. Mazini, whose real name is Jebara Igbara, ended up sentenced to seven years in federal prison …
Bergen Biz Partner Of Power 105.1 DJ Envy Busted By Feds In Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme Bergen Biz Partner Of Power 105.1 DJ Envy Busted By Feds In Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme
Bergen Biz Partner Of Power 105.1 DJ Envy Busted By Feds In Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme A New Jersey real estate investor and influencer who's business partners with Power 105.1 DJ Envy was seized early Wednesday by federal agents who charged him with orchestrating a multimillion-dollar Ponzi-like investment scheme. Promising returns that were too good to be true, Cesar Humberto Piña "exploited celebrity status and social media" to scam dozens of people out of millions of dollars, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said on Oct. 18. Piña, 45, who lives in the suburban Bergen County town of Franklin Lakes, craftily "developed a devoted following" whom he then victi…
Teaneck Swindler Whose Family Helped Fleece Investors Of $4.7M Gets 8 Years In State Slammer Teaneck Swindler Whose Family Helped Fleece Investors Of $4.7M Gets 8 Years In State Slammer
Teaneck Swindler Whose Family Helped Fleece Investors Of $4.7M Gets 8 Years In State Slammer UPDATE: A Teaneck con man who was captured after trying to flee the country must spend the next three years in state prison for running a Ponzi scheme with family and friends that fleeced dozens of unwitting investors out of $4.7 million. Chander Singh, 46, reshaped a failed company into an unscrupulous criminal venture by soliciting loans from investors to buy distressed properties, authorities said. Singh promised double-digit returns from what would be renovations of the ratholes, which he found with the help of his parents and brother, all of whom worked as real estate agents, they said…
$6M Ponzi Scheme: Braggart Hedge Fund 'Tycoon' Busted By Undercover NJ Fed $6M Ponzi Scheme: Braggart Hedge Fund 'Tycoon' Busted By Undercover NJ Fed
$6M Ponzi Scheme: Braggart Hedge Fund 'Tycoon' Busted By Undercover NJ Fed The well-heeled hedge fund tycoon from Chicago seemingly couldn’t help but boast of some spectacular achievements during a meeting with an investment manager in New Jersey. There were annual returns of 336 percent, more than $2 billion raised in just 60 days and a list of investors that included a well-known owner of a professional sports team, authorities said. Phillip Galles, 57, also took a page from George Santos’s book, claiming that he’d graduated from a prominent university in the Midwest, they said. Galles’s “outlandish claims of experience, expertise and success” were all BS, a co…
Ex-Trump PAC Exec Who Blamed 'That B****' Hillary Clinton For Probe Indicted By Feds In NJ Ex-Trump PAC Exec Who Blamed 'That B****' Hillary Clinton For Probe Indicted By Feds In NJ
Ex-Trump PAC Exec Who Blamed 'That B****' Hillary Clinton For Probe Indicted By Feds In NJ A former pro-Trump PAC exec who blamed "that b**** Hillary Clinton" for his troubles with the law swindled more than two dozen investors out of $7 million, an indictment returned Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Newark alleges. U.S. Homeland Security agents a year ago this month smashed the alleged Ponzi scheme that they said New Jersey-based businessman David Schamens, 65, used to fund a lavish lifestyle. Now comes a March 28 indictment that charges him with wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. Schamens, of Greensboro, North Carolina, used some of the investment money fro…
NJ FEDS: Miracle-Aspirin Investment Scam Sends Long Island Man To Prison For 4½ Years NJ FEDS: Miracle-Aspirin Investment Scam Sends Long Island Man To Prison For 4½ Years
NJ Feds: Miracle-Aspirin Investment Scam Sends Long Island Man To Prison For 4½ Years A Long Island man must spend the next 4½ years in prison for scamming investors out of $3.5 million through what he claimed was a revolutionary new aspirin, federal authorities in New Jersey said. Donald A. Milne III, a 57-year-old repeat offender from Massapequa, defrauded more than 70 victims from throughout the country, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. All thought they'd invested in what he touted as a “fast-acting form of powdered aspirin that could instantly stop heart attacks and strokes," Sellinger said. Milne used the money instead for a Caribbean vacation, boating expe…
Feds: Ponzi Schemer Funded House, Car, More With $6.8M From Investors In NJ, Elsewhere Feds: Ponzi Schemer Funded House, Car, More With $6.8M From Investors In NJ, Elsewhere
Feds: Ponzi Schemer Funded House, Car, More With $6.8M From Investors In NJ, Elsewhere New Jersey residents were among more than two dozen victims who lost a combined $6.8 million to a North Carolina con man running a Ponzi scheme, federal authorities charged. David Schamens, 64, of Greensboro, NC, promised annual return rates of 12% to 30% when he began soliciting investments in 2014 in Secaucus-based TradeStream Analytics LTD, as well as in other entities with names such as TD Trading LLC, TFG Trading LLC, and Tradedesk Financial Group Inc., U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. He then launched Tradestream Algo Fund, an algorithm-based trading pool that he clai…
Authorities: Long Island Couple In $1 Million Securities Scam Targeted Elderly NJ Investors Authorities: Long Island Couple In $1 Million Securities Scam Targeted Elderly NJ Investors
Authorities: Long Island Couple In $1 Million Securities Scam Targeted Elderly NJ Investors Several New Jersey seniors were scammed out of more than $1 million combined by a Long Island couple, Garden State authorities have charged. Salvatore Magaraci, 63, and A. Kirsten Gallardo, 60, of Huntington, NY specifically targeted elderly victims to pitch unregistered securities to for a crooked – and now defunct -- company, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. The Woodbridge Group of Companies purported to be a commercial lender that made hard-money loans secured by mortgages on commercial property. It ended up being ordered to pay $1 billion -- and saw its foun…
NY Con Man Admits Scamming $3.5M From Elderly Investors In NJ, Elsewhere For Heart Attack Pill NY Con Man Admits Scamming $3.5M From Elderly Investors In NJ, Elsewhere For Heart Attack Pill
NY Con Man Admits Scamming $3.5M From Elderly Investors In NJ, Elsewhere For Heart Attack Pill A convicted con artist from Long Island admitted in federal court in Trenton on Monday that he scammed investors in a purportedly revolutionary new aspirin -- most of them elderly -- out of $3.5 million that he used as his own personal piggybank. Donald A. Milne III, a 57-year-old repeat offender from Massapequa, defrauded more than 70 victims from throughout the country who though they'd invested in Instaprin, which he touted as a “fast-acting form of powdered aspirin that could instantly stop heart attacks and strokes," Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. He used the money instead…
NJ Con Man Who Swindled Elderly Out Of $2M Headed To Fed Pen NJ Con Man Who Swindled Elderly Out Of $2M Headed To Fed Pen
NJ Con Man Who Swindled Elderly Out Of $2M Headed To Fed Pen A confessed Somerset County con man is headed to federal prison for 6½ years for swindling elderly investors out of $2 million that he used, in part, to pay for his daughter’s college tuition and sorority fees. For nearly a decade, ex-financial advisor Daniel Rivera, 51, told primarily elderly investors that his Robbins Lane Properties was “staffed by experienced real estate professionals, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Rivera promised a “guaranteed monthly income” thanks to a rate of return based on secure investments, she added. The truth, Honig said, was: “Robbins Lane had …
'Not A Single Human Being Will Shed A Tear': Infamous Ponzi Schemer Madoff Dies In Fed Pen 'Not A Single Human Being Will Shed A Tear': Infamous Ponzi Schemer Madoff Dies In Fed Pen
'Not A Single Human Being Will Shed A Tear': Infamous Ponzi Schemer Madoff Dies In Fed Pen He stole from the rich, from the poor and from plenty of others in-between. Bernie Madoff, the most notorious Ponzi schemer in history, has died in federal prison, according to reports. “Bernie Madoff is dead. There is not a single human being on this earth who will shed a tear,” columnist Joe Nocera tweeted Wednesday morning. Madoff, 82, was serving a 150-year sentence without parole at a North Carolina penitentiary for defrauding thousands of people of billions of dollars in the largest Ponzi scheme ever prosecuted. The Associated Press said a source with direct knowledge of the matter c…
New Fraud Cases Name Relatives Of Imprisoned Father, Son Scammers From Mahwah, Saddle River New Fraud Cases Name Relatives Of Imprisoned Father, Son Scammers From Mahwah, Saddle River
New Fraud Cases Name Relatives Of Imprisoned Father, Son Scammers From Mahwah, Saddle River It seemed that state and federal prosecutors had thrown all they could at Bergen County’s George Bussanich and his son for a series of multi-million-dollar investment scams the past several years. But state authorities announced a new case Friday that also includes Bussanich's daughter and son-in-law as co-defendants. George Bussanich Sr., 62, of Park Ridge is already serving a 27-month federal prison stretch in Allenwood, PA for defrauding mortgage lenders and is due for release in 10 months. His son, George Bussanich Jr., 41, of Saddle River is up for parole this November from an eight-y…
This One Rivals Madoff: $1.8B Ponzi Scheme Victimizes Hundreds Of NJ Investors, Authorities Say This One Rivals Madoff: $1.8B Ponzi Scheme Victimizes Hundreds Of NJ Investors, Authorities Say
This One Rivals Madoff: $1.8B Ponzi Scheme Victimizes Hundreds Of NJ Investors, Authorities Say Hundreds of New Jersey investors were among those scammed in a $1.8 billion Ponzi scheme that authorities said was orchestrated by a trio of partners in a Manhattan-based advisory firm who projected an “aura of success” while hemorrhaging losses. Instead of securing returns for clients, the founder and CEO of GPB Capital Holdings, David Gentile, and his associates used investments to cover shortfalls and pay for private jets, a Ferrari and other personal luxuries, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. Victims from the Garden State alone pumped more than $70.4 million into the s…
Feds: Convicted Big-Time NJ Ticket Investment Scammer Admits Doing It Again Feds: Convicted Big-Time NJ Ticket Investment Scammer Admits Doing It Again
Feds: Convicted Big-Time NJ Ticket Investment Scammer Admits Doing It Again A Middlesex County man who’d previously been convicted in a ticket resale investment scam admitted in federal court Thursday that he did it again, authorities said. Jeffrey Burd, 61, of Edison, told a U.S. District Court judge during a virtual hearing in Newark that he spent the $447,000 that investors had given him for the purported business on himself. Burd had promised his victims that their money would go toward buying tickets for “high-profile concerts, sporting events, and Broadway shows,” with the profits split between him and them, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachel A. Honig said. Burd “f…
Family Of Bergen County Realtors, Board Director Charged In $4.7 Million Dollar Ponzi Scheme Family Of Bergen County Realtors, Board Director Charged In $4.7 Million Dollar Ponzi Scheme
Family Of Bergen County Realtors, Board Director Charged In $4.7 Million Dollar Ponzi Scheme The owner of a "distressed" North Jersey real estate investment firm, his parents, brother and one family friend were charged in a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme that began in at least 2014, authorities said Thursday. Chander Singh, 44, of Emerson, falsely solicited $4.7 million from approximately 30 investors through a web of entities under the umbrella of his company, SC Capital Investors LLC, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The investigation into Singh and his company was launched last February, when authorities began receiving tips from multiple investors t…
Hackensack Teacher From Oradell Charged With Pocketing $300,000 In Ponzi Scheme Hackensack Teacher From Oradell Charged With Pocketing $300,000 In Ponzi Scheme
Hackensack Teacher From Oradell Charged With Pocketing $300,000 In Ponzi Scheme A Hackensack schoolteacher from Oradell ran a Ponzi scheme that fleeced investors of $300,000 that she used for herself, authorities announced Monday. Suzette Hart, 54, “solicited multiple investors for various high-yield, well-known investment opportunities knowing that the investments were fraudulent” over a five-year period, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Hart, who most recently taught at Hackensack’s Fairmount School, then “disbursed money from one investor to other investors, which reinforced the deception that the investor’s money had been properly invested and was produc…
Bergen Prosecutor: Feds Capture Parolee In $500,000 Ponzi Scheme Bergen Prosecutor: Feds Capture Parolee In $500,000 Ponzi Scheme
Bergen Prosecutor: Feds Capture Parolee In $500,000 Ponzi Scheme U.S. Marshals captured an ex-con who ran a Ponzi scheme while on federal probation that swindled a Fort Lee investor, among others, out of more than $500,000, authorities said. Giuseppe Valentino, 52, “solicited multiple investors in his company, Rhineau LLC, by representing that he had developed a proprietary algorithm for the execution of binary options,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Wednesday. A judge issued a warrant for Valentino’s arrest in March after Financial Crimes Unit detectives found that he’d collected a half-million dollars that he used for himself without inves…
Morristown Adviser In Investment Scams Fined $750,000, Loses Registration Morristown Adviser In Investment Scams Fined $750,000, Loses Registration
Morristown Adviser In Investment Scams Fined $750,000, Loses Registration A Morristown investment adviser was fined $750,000 and had his registration pulled for selling more than $12 million of unregistered securities in New Jersey, some of which were tied to Ponzi schemes and other scams, state authorities said Tuesday. Gary Scheer, managing member and sole investment adviser representative of Retirement Financial Advisors, LLC in Morristown, recommended and sold unregistered securities to at least 50 investors from 2010 through 2018, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. He made more than $600,000 in commissions on the sales, which involved franchises, …
Father-Son Investment Scammers From Bergen Get State Prison Time Tacked Onto Federal Sentences Father-Son Investment Scammers From Bergen Get State Prison Time Tacked Onto Federal Sentences
Father-Son Investment Scammers From Bergen Get State Prison Time Tacked Onto Federal Sentences Having been sentenced to federal time, two members of a Bergen County family of con artists received state prison terms Friday in Hackensack for defrauding investors in back-to-back multi-million dollar scams. George Bussanich Sr., 61, of Park Ridge, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison, while George Bussanich Jr., 40, of Saddle River, was sentenced to eight years in state prison. Bussanich Sr.’s wife, Wilma Bussanich, 58, was sentenced Friday to five years of probation and 125 hours of community service for a previous guilty plea to money laundering. Last March, George Bussanich Sr. …
Husband And Wife From W. New York Admit Running $500K Ponzi Scheme Husband And Wife From W. New York Admit Running $500K Ponzi Scheme
Husband And Wife From W. New York Admit Running $500K Ponzi Scheme A married couple from West New York pleaded guilty to multiple offenses related to an investment firm that was really cover for a Ponzi scheme, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey said Monday.  Alcibiades Cifuentes, 36, and his wife Jennifer Wee Cifuentes, 38, ran a hedge fund, Cifuentes Fund Management, which they said was investing in foreign currencies and commodities.  In reality, for three years beginning in 2012, the couple took investors' money and bought jewelry, an Audi R8 and other items. They took some cash from more recent investors in the fund and gave it to older invest…
'Like Watching Him Go Through Chemo': Clayton Morris Moves To Portugal With Worried Wife 'Like Watching Him Go Through Chemo': Clayton Morris Moves To Portugal With Worried Wife
'Like Watching Him Go Through Chemo': Clayton Morris Moves To Portugal With Worried Wife A former FOX News talkshow host accused of being involved in a real estate Ponzi scheme have moved out of the U.S. Clayton Morris and his wife, Natali, first left their Florham Park for Pennsylvania, but have resettled in Portugal. Morris is facing more than two dozens lawsuits saying he organized a scheme that defrauded customers for his own financial gain when he sold them rental properties that were in much worse shape than advertised. Natali wrote on her website that the media attention and accusations were taking their toll on her husband, facing dozens of lawsuits from across th…
Ex-Midland Park Man Charged In $900G Foreign Currency Ponzi Scheme Ex-Midland Park Man Charged In $900G Foreign Currency Ponzi Scheme
Ex-Midland Park Man Charged In $900G Foreign Currency Ponzi Scheme A former Bergen County man was arrested in Kansas and charged with running a foreign currency Ponzi scheme in which he stole $900,000 from at least 20 investors to pay for a luxury car, jewelry and golf, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Thomas Lanzana, 51 formerly of Midland Park, was charged by complaint with one count each of wire fraud and commodities fraud, Carpenito said. He made an initial appearance Wednesday in federal court -- hours after his Park City, Kansas arrest. Lanzana -- who had been living in South Carolina -- in 2013 began convincing prospective clients to invest…