For the next several years there will be no doubt about the whereabouts of Nick Camaj, a fraudster who pretended to live in Montenegro and who faked his death while draining nearly $500,000 in retirement savings of a Yonkers dentist.
U.S. District Judge Nelson S. Román sentenced Camaj on Sept. 29 to 21 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $457,050 in restitution to his victim.
Camaj’s character is “defined by his cold, cruel behavior,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Margery B. Feinzig stated in a sentencing letter to the judge. “In addition to being a skilled manipulator and liar, as evidenced by the thousands of text messages he exchanged (with the victim), he showed absolutely no mercy towards (his victim).”
The victim, who is not identified in publicly-available court filings, was an elderly and ailing Yonkers dentist who served underprivileged patients in his community and was about 28 years older than Camaj, now 48.
In 2016, the dentist placed an ad on Craig’s List seeking companionship. Camaj exchanged emails with him, they met and, according to the sentencing letter, “a relationship ensued.”
Camaj immediately began deceiving the dentist and exploiting the relationship. He claimed, for instance, that his mother had died and he needed money to bury her.
He pretended to move to Montenegro to claim a $1 million beachfront house his mother and aunt had bequeathed to him and a cousin.
Over a two year period, he sent 2,800 text messages depicting increasingly dire circumstances. He needed money to pay living expenses while trying to claim the house and an $8 million painting, with the understanding that the dentist would eventually be paid back.
He claimed he had to pay for emergency surgery for injuries suffered when his cousin sent thugs to kill him.
The dentist repeatedly wired funds to Camaj, even as he alerted Camaj that his retirement savings were dwindling.
“Nick I’m feeling sick over the decimation of my retirement funds,” the dentist stated in an April 2019 text message. “Nick please understand I do not have limitless money.”
In June 2019, in reply to Camaj’s request for $18,000, the dentist texted, “I’ve emptied it out for you. In terms of retirement money for myself I’m broke because of your situation. Anyway I’ll now at 73 be working until the day I die.”
The dentist relented and sent the $18,000.
In 2020, Camaj ratcheted up the pressure, according to Feinzig, by claiming he had stomach cancer and needed money for chemotherapy.
Then a man claiming to be Camaj’s attorney in Montenegro asked the dentist for money to pay for medicine. Later, the fake attorney called and said Camaj had died. The dentist wired $10,000 to Camaj’s account to help pay for funeral expenses.
None of the stories were true.
Camaj never left the United States, according to Feinzig. His mother had not died and there was no inheritance, medical expenses or cancer.
Instead, Camaj withdrew most of the money that had been wired to his bank account from a Yonkers ATM. He spent the dentist’s retirement funds on gambling at a local casino, gambling trips to Florida, and personal items bought in Westchester County and the Bronx.
The dentist told investigators in November 2021 that he was 74, had health issues, and had to keep working because he could not afford not to work.
Camaj pled guilty to wire fraud on March 23, and he admitted that he intentionally lied to induce the dentist to transfer funds to his bank account. He said he knew what he did was against the law and he never intended to pay back the dentist.
Feinzig described the swindles as the “crowning achievement in an adult life spent committing crimes.”
Camaj was convicted of burglary when he was 24, and served two years in prison. Then he was arrested for trying to sell 2,000 ecstasy pills but got no prison time. A year later he was arrested in a large-scale, international marijuana distribution conspiracy, for which he was sentenced to time served. A week later he sent the first text message to the dentist.
“A 27-month sentence may finally help serve the purpose of deterring him from victimizing someone else.”
Camaj’s sentencing recommendation was sealed and unavailable to the public. According to Feinzig, Camaj’s attorney recommended for home confinement.
Camaj had consented at the March plea hearing to forfeiting $457,050, but he admitted that the proceeds of his crime could not be located.
In any event, according to the Feinzig sentencing letter, the dentist “has since passed away.”
