A Rockland County accountant was sentenced Jan. 16 to three years in federal prison for operating a $6 million Ponzi scheme over 11 years.
Alan Ritter, a 70-year-old self-employed accountant in Monsey, in September pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to three counts of wire fraud.
Ritter admitted soliciting loans from friends and clients to cover more than $500,000 in losses in a business venture in 2001 and falsely telling them the money would be used for real estate investments. Until his arrest last year, he continued to borrow money for purported business ventures but instead used the funds to pay interest on his original loans and for his personal expenses.
Ritter also embezzled funds entrusted to him by several clients to cover interest payments on his Ponzi scheme loans and for personal expenses.
Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney in Manhattan, when announcing the sentence said Ritter “like other Ponzi schemers before him added personal betrayal to his fraud by fleecing unsuspecting victims who were friends and clients.”
The accountant also was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture, the amount of which will be later determined.
