{"id":50203,"date":"2022-06-29T16:43:23","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T23:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50203"},"modified":"2022-06-29T16:43:23","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T23:43:23","slug":"business-owner-arrested-for-alleged-45-million-investment-fraud-involving-10000-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=50203","title":{"rendered":"Business Owner Arrested for Alleged $45 Million Investment Fraud Involving 10,000 Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"A Nevada man was arrested Wednesday in Los Angeles for an alleged investment fraud scheme that defrauded more than 10,000 victims of over $45 million. <\/span><\/p>\n

A federal grand jury in the District of Nebraska previously returned an indictment on June 14 charging Neil Chandran, which was unsealed today in Omaha.<\/span><\/p>\n

The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/span><\/p>\n

The indictment also alleges that 100 different assets \u2014 bank accounts, real estate, and luxury vehicles, including 39 Tesla vehicles \u2014 are subject to forfeiture as proceeds of the fraud. U.S. Marshals and the FBI are seizing most of the assets pending resolution of the criminal case.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"According to the indictment, Chandran, 50, of Las Vegas, owned a group of technology companies that he used in a scheme to defraud investors.<\/span><\/p>\n

He did so by falsely promising extremely high returns on the premise that one or more of his companies, operating under the banner of \u201cViRSE,\u201d was about to be acquired by a consortium of wealthy buyers. <\/span><\/p>\n

Chandran\u2019s companies \u2014 which included Free Vi Lab, Studio Vi Inc., ViDelivery Inc., ViMarket Inc., and Skalex USA Inc., among others \u2014 developed virtual-world technologies, including their own cryptocurrency, for use in the companies\u2019 own metaverse. <\/span><\/p>\n

The indictment alleges that Chandran caused other individuals to make various materially false and misleading representations to investors, including the following:<\/span><\/p>\n