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Lawrence Coven, who had previously been disbarred as an attorney, operated and controlled Sunrise Enterprises LLC, which purported to provide financial services to investors, US Attorney Philip Sellinger said.
In reality, Coven induced investors into sending him funds by falsely representing that he would invest their money through Sunrise in exchange for large profits by providing short-term loans to borrowers who could not obtain standard loans, Sellinger said. He falsely guaranteed investors returns of between 10 to 15% on their investments and told investors that their investments were risk-free, Sellinger said.
Instead of investing the money as he promised, Coven diverted investor funds for personal expenses, including utilities, entertainment, real estate, credit card bills, and cash withdrawals, Sellinger said. When investors began asking questions, Coven provided them with false assurances that their money was safe and used money from existing investors to make payments to other investors in a Ponzi-like fashion, Sellinger said.
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