A 60-year-old Connecticut man was sentenced to more than eight years in prison, after being convicted of orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that took in nearly $7 million from more than 50 investors.
According to U.S. Attorney David Fein, Gregory Viola used the cash to make mortgage payments, join country clubs, and purchase jewelry among other expenditures. The announcement was made on the heels of a U.S. Department of Justice seminar earlier this week in Stamford on combating fraud, with Fein crediting the Stamford police and the Connecticut Department of Banking in the Viola investigation.
“There has been a rise in investment fraud schemes around the country, and the Department of Justice and our law enforcement and regulatory partners are committed to educating the public and helping prevent investor fraud before it happens,” Fein said, in a prepared statement.
Viola was arrested in August 2011 and pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud this past February. Between 2007 and 2011, he solicited funds for investment and made distributions using new investor money, hiding the scheme by creating false account statements. As of May 2011, Viola falsely represented to victim investors that they had more than $10 million on account. The funds that did exist were commingled with money in Viola’s own personal bank accounts.
In addition to his prison sentence, Viola was ordered to make $6.9 million in restitution to victims.
