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Gregg Brie, age 54, of White Plains, was sentenced on Monday, Nov. 15, to 63 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud, according to Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Brie was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay forfeiture and restitution in the amount of $642,333.33 each.
Williams said Brie embezzled the funds from three of his clients, including two people who lived in his apartment complex in White Plains.
The US Attorney's Office said the first victim gave Brie more than $480,000 after Brie advised him to buy shares in Alaska Air Group, Inc.
Brie told the victim that his stock had increased to about $8 million, but when the victim asked for the money Brie told him his accounts were frozen "because the stockbrokers had done something 'sketchy' in order to buy the shares at a lower price," Williams reported.
After the victim tried to contact the brokerage firm, Brie said he would "murder" him if the victim ever did so again, and he repeated the threat at least two other times, the US Attorney's Office said.
The second victim made loans to Brie, totaling about $157,000, “for the purpose of producing and distributing a proprietary, composite unimold commode for use within indigent venues of the African nation of Uganda," Williams said.
The third victim reportedly loaned $2,000 to Brie following Brie's "representation that he was illiquid because he had put all of his cash into the unimold commode project."
An FBI analysis of bank accounts Brie controlled showed he had spent the victims' money on credit cards and a lease for a Mercedes Benz, Williams said.
Williams said evidence showed that there was no brokerage account.
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