White Plains grifter Gregg Brie was arrested Oct. 1 and accused of embezzling $640,000 from two neighbors.
Gregg Farrell Brie, 53, used stolen money, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, “so he could live a lavish lifestyle.”
At one point, Brie allegedly threatened to murder one of his victims, in recorded conversations, and said he meant his threats to be taken “literally, not metaphorically.”
The criminal complaint, based on an affidavit by FBI agent Carmen A. Cacioppo, describes two schemes from October 2016 to the present.
In one scheme, he allegedly befriended a paraplegic, living on Social Security disability payments and the beneficiary of his mother”™s estate, who lives in his apartment complex.
Brie boasted that he used to work on Wall Street, according to the complaint, that he gave investment advice on a professional basis and that he ran Topper Management out of his apartment.
The apartment complex is not identified, but Topper Management is registered to an apartment in Westage Towers West Condominium, 25 Rockledge Ave.
The neighbor loaned Brie $40,000 for a Queens bakery, and forked over $450,000 to invest in Alaska Air Group Inc.
The neighbor also loaned Brie $650,000 for personal expenses, the complaint states, that are not part of the criminal charges.
Brie said he had opened two brokerage accounts for his neighbor, according the complaint, and eventually claimed that the investment had increased in value to more than $8 million.
He suggested that the neighbor”™s account representative in the Alaska Air Group investment may have done something “sketchy,” the complaint states, to get shares at a lower price.
The neighbor began asking for his money in January, and Brie made various excuses, including that the account had been frozen.
The neighbor began recording his conversations this past spring. When he told Brie that he wanted to contact his account representatives, Brie, on three occasions, allegedly threatened to murder him, the recordings purportedly reveal, and he meant the threats to be taken “literally, not metaphorically.”
Investigators found no brokerage accounts in the victim”™s name, according to the complaint, and many checks that Brie wrote to the victim bounced.
In the other alleged scheme, a neighbor made three loans totaling $125,000, through Topper Management, to make and distribute commodes in Uganda.
Brie allegedly promised to pay back the loans plus $45,000.
None of the loans have been repaid, according to the complaint, and checks that were submitted were returned as drawn on insufficient funds.
Bank accounts for Brie and Topper Management show deposits of $1,254,809 originating from the alleged victims and other sources. Disbursements total $1,208,486: including $73,605 for a Mercedes Benz; $334,839 in cash, ATM withdrawals and checks to himself; and $442,511 in credit card payments.
The government accused Brie of securities fraud and wire fraud, with possible maximum prison sentences of 25 years and 20 years.
In 2008, Brie pleaded guilty to grand larceny in Rockland County, for swindling $2.13 million from 26 people. He was sentenced to state prison for three to nine years.
He lived in a mansion in Pomona, according to news accounts at the time, presented himself as a philanthropist and cruised around town in a Bentley and a Lamborghini.
In 2009 he was convicted of grand larceny for stealing $205,000 from Smith Barney financial services, in Purchase. He opened an account with $2,500, according to the Westchester district attorney”™s office 2009 annual report, and then wrote $205,000 in checks to himself without depositing more funds.
Anyone who invested money with Brie should call the FBI, the U.S. attorney’s press release states, at 800-225-5324.
The current criminal case is being handled by assistant prosecutors James McMahon and Shiva Logarajah in the White Plains office.
