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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…
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
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
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
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
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
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…
