Mr. Schiff: A $30 million scam by a lawyer. FBI Special Agent William Cromer in Atlanta says a call came in and a case was opened.
Mr. Cromer: "One of the investors was having some trouble getting a hold of the guy he invested his money with and was starting to get worried that maybe something was going on.”
Mr. Schiff: The man was concerned with fraud. Cromer says the subject was running a Ponzi scheme, promising huge returns on investments.
Mr. Cromer: "But then rather than investing that money the way they told the investor that they would, the person takes that money and uses it to pay previous investors money that they are owed or spends the money on his or her own lifestyle.”
Mr. Schiff: Cromer says the scammer-lawyer was telling investors the money was for private placement mortgages.
Mr. Cromer: "Basically he was telling people, ‘You invest your money with me, then I’ll loan that money out to people who can’t get mortgages through the normal means, and they just need like a bridge loan.’”
Mr. Schiff: The subject bought property, artwork, and cars. He pled guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced to 10 years and a month in prison. I’m Neal Schiff of the Bureau, and that’s the FBI’s Closed Case of the Week.”
Link: Gotcha Archives
