An investment fund manager has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and money laundering in relation to an $80 million Ponzi scheme.
Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia said Joseph Forte had duped around 80 investors between 1996 and 2008 by claiming their money would be used to trade stock index futures.
According to the Business Journal, Mr Forte claimed his backers would receive returns of between 18 percent and 38 percent. In reality, he was losing money on his trades and paying out 'returns' using cash from new investors.
Assistant US attorney Joe Kahn told local news service KYW 1060 that Mr Forte had paid himself "millions of dollars in salary" while he was running the scheme and had used investors' cash to buy himself a home and make donations to a number of schools and a church.
Business Journal said he had also used his fabricated profits to secure numerous financial transactions, including taking out a $500,000 loan by misrepresenting the value of his investment firm.
Mr Forte will be sentenced in October.
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