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QUEENS---A former licensed securities broker and his brother have admitted to defrauding investors of more than $150,000 over a 16-month period through a "Ponzi"-style scheme known as "Zampetti Investments!"
Richard C. Zampetti, Jr., 37, of 2334 Oak Bend Place in The Villages, Florida (formerly of 71-49 Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village, Queens), and Vincent Zampetti, 35, of 70 Fairfield Avenue in Mineola, were arrested on June 21, 2006.
They each appeared Friday before Acting Supreme Court Justice James P. Griffin and pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheme to defraud and agreed to make full restitution of $161,530 to their victims. Justice Griffin set sentencing for June 11, at which time he is expected to sentence the defendants to five years' probation.
District Attorney Richard Brown said that the prosecution was the result of a three-year investigation conducted by the District Attorney's Office in conjunction with the New York Stock Exchange. The investigation determined that although initially the investment strategy explained by the defendants to prospective investors as the "covered calls" or "covered options" strategy appeared to succeed, in late 2000,
the strategy eventually soured and the defendants began using new investors' monies to pay the monthly promised returns.
In pleading guilty, the defendants admitted that they utilized the tragedy of September 11th as an excuse, claiming that the fund had failed because of economic conditions. However, a lengthy and thorough forensic analysis of all the bank and brokerage records by the District Attorney's Investigations Division determined that the defendants had used investors' funds to pay personal bills, such as credit cards and other items, instead of investing the funds in accordance with their clients' directions.
It is estimated that investors suffered losses of more than $150,000 as a result of the defendant's scheme that ran from Dec. 1, 2000 to March 1, 2002. 2-24-07
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© 2007 North
Country Gazette
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