{"id":51670,"date":"2022-12-20T12:56:27","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T20:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=51670"},"modified":"2022-12-20T12:56:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T20:56:27","slug":"man-sentenced-to-20-years-in-prison-for-a-ponzi-and-covid-19-fraud-involving-1000-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=51670","title":{"rendered":"Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for a Ponzi and COVID-19 Fraud Involving 1,000 Investors"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

\"\"Christopher A. Parris, 42, formerly of Rochester, New York, and currently of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud related to a Ponzi scheme, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parris also committed wire fraud involving the fraudulent sale of purported N95 masks during the pandemic,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. sentenced him to prison for 20 years and four months.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between January 2012 and June 19, 2018, Parris and Santillo obtained at least $115.5 million from approximately 1,000 investors, according to authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time the scheme collapsed in late 2017 and early 2018, Parris and Santillo, doing business through an array of corporate entities, had returned approximately $44.8 million to investors as part of their scheme but continued to owe investors approximately $70.7 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cChristopher Parris, and his co-defendant Perry Santillo, engaged in an elaborate scheme to defraud hundreds of victims out of approximately $115 million dollars,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Trini Ross for the Western District of New York. \u201cThese defendants went to great lengths to perpetuate their fraud and did so over a substantial period of time.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Adding, “Christopher Parris and Perry Santillo, who have now been sentenced to substantial periods of incarceration for victimizing their innocent clients in this Ponzi scheme. In addition, defendant Parris was also convicted for his part in a COVID-19 fraud scheme, during which he obtained approximately $7.4 million dollars by falsely purporting to have N95 masks, made in the United States, that he could sale to various medical companies, including the VA hospital, during the height of the pandemic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ponzi Scheme<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Officials stated that between January 2011 and June 2018, Parris conspired with co-defendant Perry Santillo and others to obtain money through an investment fraud, commonly known as a Ponzi scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, in 2007, Parris and Santillo, as equal partners, formed a business known as Lucian Development in Rochester, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to July 2007, Lucian Development raised millions of dollars from investors in Rochester and elsewhere by soliciting investments for City Capital Corporation, a business operated by Ephren Taylor.<\/span><\/p>\n

In July 2007, Parris and Santillo were advised by Ephren Taylor that their investors\u2019 money had been lost. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In response, in August 2007, Parris and Santillo agreed to acquire the assets and debts of City Capital Corporation. <\/span><\/p>\n

The acquisition proved financially ruinous, with the amount of the acquired debt far exceeding the value of the acquired assets. Taylor was later prosecuted and convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n

Subsequently, Parris and Santillo chose not to disclose the truth to investors that their money, entrusted to Lucian Development for investment in City Capital Corporation, was gone. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Parris and Santillo continued to solicit ever-increasing amounts of money from new investors in an unsuccessful attempt to recoup the losses. <\/span><\/p>\n

In order to find potential investors to solicit and defraud, Parris and Santillo purchased businesses from established investment advisors or brokers who were looking to exit their businesses. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Between approximately 2008 and September 2017, Parris and Santillo, using money obtained from prior investors, purchased the businesses of at least 15 investment advisors or brokers, located in Tennessee, Ohio, Minnesota, Nevada, California (five businesses), Florida, South Carolina (two businesses), Texas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Indiana.<\/span><\/p>\n

The investment offerings pitched by Parris and Santillo consisted principally of unsecured promissory notes and preferred stock issued by various entities controlled by Parris and Santillo. <\/span><\/p>\n

Potential investors were offered an apparent array of investment options to create the illusion of a diversified investment portfolio. <\/span><\/p>\n

Those investment options included products issued by purported issuers such as First Nationle Solutions (FNS), Percipience Global Corporation, United RL Capital Services, Boyles America, Middlebury Development Corporation and NexMedical Solutions, among others. <\/span><\/p>\n

None of these issuers had substantial bona fide business operations or used investor money in the manner and for the purposes represented to investors. <\/span><\/p>\n

To the extent that an issuer may have had some minor legitimate business activities, it was not profitable, and insufficient revenues were generated to pay investors any returns (let alone return the principal amounts of their investments).<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the years, to keep the Ponzi scheme from being detected, a substantial portion of incoming new investor monies was depleted by making promised interest and other payments to earlier investors. <\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the rest of the incoming investor money was used by Parris, Santillo, and other co-conspirators to finance the lavish lifestyles of the conspirators, their families, and associates; to expand the scheme by purchasing investment advisor\/brokerage businesses to obtain access to fresh investors; and to pay operating expenses \u2013 salaries for a sales force and administrative staff, office rents and related expenses, housing for employees, and interest on loans \u2013 all of which were used to keep the scheme going and maintain a fa\u00e7ade of legitimate business operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Very little investor money was deployed in productive investments, and when so deployed, the investments yielded meager income and were not profitable or failed altogether. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Ponzi scheme was headquartered and based out of locations in Rochester, with several satellite offices around the country. <\/span><\/p>\n

Administrative and banking functions were largely performed out of Rochester. <\/span><\/p>\n

The conspiracy employed a variety of salespeople, including Parris and Santillo, who traveled around the country to meet with and solicit new investors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the Rochester-area victims of the Ponzi scheme were the following:<\/span><\/p>\n