As of recent, the media and the government have been giving a fair amount of attention to financial crimes like investment fraud. Thus, the consequences of being convicted of these crimes can be quite great. This can be seen in a recent fraud case from Florida.
The case involves a man from Jamaica. The man has been accused of operating a Ponzi scheme. The man allegedly would collect money from investors, claiming that it would be used towards currency trading. However, the man allegedly would instead use this money for personal expenditures and to pay off investors. This scam supposedly defrauded thousands of individuals (some of which were from Florida) and involved over $200 million.
The man faced charges for money laundering, money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud in connection to these allegations. Overall, the man faced 23 separate criminal counts.
The man reached an agreement with prosecutors and pled guilty to all of these counts on Tuesday. The man could receive a prison sentence of up to 20 years for each of these criminal counts. However, the prosecution in this case reportedly plans on asking that the man be given a more lenient sentence.
Any criminal attorney in Miami knows how high the stakes can be in investment fraud cases and understands how important a strong defense can be to those who face charges in connection to this kind of fraud. This case serves to underscore how being convicted of charges related to investment fraud can have great repercussions. Given the high number of counts the man pled guilty to, he could face a significant prison sentence, even with prosecutorial leniency.
Source: The Miami Herald, “Financier pleads guilty in Florida to fraud,” (Article no longer available online) Michael Schneider, 29 March 2011
