Even as James Ward Doyle was luring victims to phony investments, his partner-in-crime was using the new money to pay victims of previous larcenies.
Doyle, 74, of Hartsdale, was sentenced in a Delaware County criminal court on Jan. 11 to 5 years of probation for his part in a Ponzi scheme that cheated investors of more than $1 million. He had pleaded guilty to money laundering and a scheme to defraud.
His partner, Carl R. Carro, 61, of Walton, Delaware County, was sentenced to 4 to 8 years in prison. He had pleaded guilty to money laundering, securities fraud, scheme to defraud and failure to file personal income tax returns.
From 2012 to 2020 they used Endeavor Management Solutions and Endeavor Consultancy Inc. to divert investor funds to their personal uses, according to court records.
Doyle posed as a partner in a headhunting firm that was helping prestigious clients find potential candidates for lucrative board of directors positions.
Then Doyle presented the candidates with a “business opportunity,” according to the felony complaint. Candidates who agreed to put money into Endeavor’s Cash Reserve Fund, typically for 30 days, would get back their money plus 10% interest. They were promised that the funds would never be put in any investments or placed at risk.
But there was no cash reserve fund.
The short-term loans were transferred to several bank accounts the men controlled, according to court records, to disguise the true source of the money. Then funds were withdrawn and used for personal expenses and to pay back previously defrauded investors.
About $500,000 was withdrawn in cash. About $350,000 was used to pay back previous victims, $200,000 to pay personal credit card bills, and $57,000 for pet expenses, according to a press release from state Attorney General Letitia James, whose office investigated the scheme with the state Department of Taxation and Finance.
Most of the money was diverted for Carro’s benefit,
He issued a $82,000 bank check to an attorney who represented him in a 2011 Delaware County larceny, to pay restitution to three victims. He issued checks totaling $95,886 to another defense attorney who used the money to pay restitution to the victim of a 2015 larceny.
The 2015 restitution was part of a plea bargain by which Carro was sentenced to probation for 5 years instead of to prison for 2 to 6 years.
When investors in the new scheme didn’t get their money back, they ran into a wall of excuses. They were told that the bank would not release the funds when in fact the funds were already depleted, according to the felony complaint. They were told that the check was in the mail and then would receive an empty envelope. Or they were referred to Endeavor’s fictional legal counsel who would string them along for years until some investors got small repayments and others got nothing.
The New York case is not Doyle’s first encounter with state regulators or the legal system.
In 2017, the Maine Office of Securities entered a cease and desist order against Doyle and Endeavor Management Solutions. Doyle was ordered to pay a civil fine and restitution totaling $60,000, and Endeavor was fined $20,000.
In 2018, the Connecticut Banking Commissioner issued a cease and desist order against Doyle and Endeavor for offering unregistered securities. He was ordered to pay an investor $33,000, including the 10% interest that was promised, and he was fined $100,000.
Several lawsuits have been filed in New York courts. This past September, for instance, Vincent Vallario of Glastonbury, Connecticut sued Doyle and Endeavor in Westchester Supreme Court. He claims he loaned Endeavor $25,000 in 2017 and was promised $27,500 back in one month but still has not been repaid.
The case is pending and Doyle has not yet answered the allegations.
Several court records identify the Highpoint Condos in Hartsdale as Doyle’s home. Some records show the Crystal Towers apartments on Old Mamaroneck Road, White Plains, as his home.
