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Middlesex County Man Ran $1 Million Bogus Sugar Investment Scheme: Feds

A 64-year-old Middlesex County man admitted on Thursday, Jan. 23, to defrauding people in South Korea via a bogus investment scheme involving sugar, authorities said.

Sugar

Sugar

Photo Credit: Romain Behar/Wikimedia Commons

Mohammed Rahman, an Iselin resident, ran Caltech Trading Corporation, through which he purported to buy and sell commodities, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said. Rahman and other individuals in South Korea persuaded approximately 60 victims there to invest funds purportedly towards the purchase of $1 million of sugar from Brazil, which Caltech would then sell for a substantial profit, Khanna said. 

Rahman and his associates memorialized the investment terms in a fraudulent  agreement that falsely promised the victim investors that they would receive a 100% return on their investment, Khanna said.

The victims relied on Rahman’s misrepresentations about how their funds would be used which, instead of being invested towards the purchase of sugar, were wired into Rahman’s bank account and used to pay his personal expenses, including his mortgage, Khanna said. Rahman also altered his bank account statement in an attempt to conceal the fact that he did not use the investors’ funds to purchase sugar, Khanna said.

Khanna pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison, Khanna said.

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