A 37-year-old New Jersey broker faces deportation after admitting to stealing more than $1 million from family relatives in Scarsdale who invested in his hedge fund.
Khawaja Saud Masud, of Jersey City, pled guilty in Westchester County Court on Wednesday to Class E felony charges of fourth-degree grand larceny and securities fraud, state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced.
Prosecutors said Masud convinced his great-uncle and great-aunt, Dr. Kalim Irfani, a pediatrician with a Yonkers practice, and Rehana Irfani, to invest $1 million of their retirement savings in his purported hedge fund, RKS Capital LP, telling them it was a far safer investment than a mutual fund. Without their knowledge, the broker engaged in what prosecutors called “a highly speculative and aggressive investment strategy,” trading stocks multiple times a day and suffering losses that exceeded $900,000 in three months.
In exchange for his plea, Masud must pay a total of $500,000 in restitution. Prosecutors said he already has repaid approximately $200,000 to the Irfanis. With his felony conviction, the broker faces deportation to his native Pakistan.
Masud is scheduled to be sentenced March 4.
