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KATONAH, NY--A Westchester County accountant has pled guilty in a $2 million fraud scheme involving securities fraud and money laundering.
Laurence Brown,64, of Katonah, a Principal and General Partner at Marshall Granger & Company LLP, an accounting firm located in Armonk, admitted that he sold investors fake promissory notes of common stock in what he claimed was a profitable company operating a gas pipeline in Tennessee, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. The company, Infinity Reserves-Tennessee, Inc., was controlled by a client of Marshall Granger & Company.
Brown admitted that he induced at least ten people to invest over $2 million in a company that he knew had no active business operations and generated no revenue.
Bharara says in fact, Brown was operating a Ponzi scheme in which he diverted investor funds into his personal bank account and those of family members. Brown admitted to taking more than $2.1 million from investors between January 2008 and June 2010 and returned $136,000 of that to investors in the form of interest payments.
Said Bharara, "Laurence Brown used his position as an accountant to dupe his clients and other investors into believing they were making sound investments. He took advantage of their trust for his own personal enrichment, and now he will pay for his crimes."
Brown faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison, mandatory restitution, and fines of up to $5 million. Sentencing is set for November 17.
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