Greenwich man indicted for investment fraud

Greenwich resident Leonid (Lenny) Pollak has been indicted by a federal grand jury in New Haven for offenses related to an investment fraud scheme.

As alleged in the indictment, Pollak owned an unspecified Norwalk-based company that organized trade shows and expositions throughout the U.S. In mid-2013, Pollak induced an acquaintance to invest $290,000 in a new business venture that was supposed to organize similar expositions in the Ukraine.

Instead of using the money to build the new business, Pollak is alleged to have spent nearly all of it on unrelated business and personal expenses, including his home mortgage loan, groceries, clothing, automobiles and private school tuition.

The indictment charges Pollak with six counts of wire fraud ”“ an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years on each count ”“ and two counts of illegal monetary transactions, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years on each count.

Pollak appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Spector in New Haven on Thursday and was ordered detained.

John H. Durham, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.