{"id":57052,"date":"2024-07-22T17:27:17","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T00:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57052"},"modified":"2024-07-22T17:27:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T00:27:17","slug":"man-guilty-of-operating-a-1-2-million-adult-webcam-business-that-conned-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57052","title":{"rendered":"Man Guilty of Operating a $1.2 million Adult Webcam Business That Conned Investors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"LaA Montrose man pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding investors out of more than $1 million, federal officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

He made false promises that they would receive an ownership interest in several adult entertainment webcam websites and then used their money on personal expenses, including luxury items.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Patrick Khalafian, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Andr\u00e9 Birotte Jr. scheduled a Feb. 21 sentencing hearing.\u00a0 \u00a0Khalafian faces up to 20 years in federal prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"According to his plea agreement, from November 2009 to October 2016, Khalafian solicited investments for businesses, including 168 Entertainment LLC, Empire Entertainment Group Inc., and EEG LLC.<\/span><\/p>\n

The businesses purportedly developed and operated adult entertainment websites.<\/span><\/p>\n

Khalafian falsely represented to victims that their investments would be used for business operations, including developing software and the platform for the proposed websites, paying for computer servers, hiring employees, and purchasing advertising. <\/span><\/p>\n

He also falsely promised that the victims would be repaid for their investments by a specific date, that they would receive ownership interests in the companies, and that they would receive a share of the companies\u2019 profits.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"Rather than investing the victim\u2019s money, Khalafian instead used their funds to pay off his debts, including those of prior victims, and to fund his own lifestyle, including gambling expenses and luxury shopping sprees.<\/span><\/p>\n

To deceive his victims into thinking their funds were being used as promised, Khalafian lied about the status of the adult entertainment websites he claimed to be developing. <\/span><\/p>\n

He eventually stopped responding to his victims and changed his phone number and email address to avoid their inquiries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\"LawFor example, in July 2015, Khalafian met with one victim at Mastro\u2019s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills. He falsely claimed that a $1 million investment would cover business expenses such as computer servers, employees, and advertising for the adult webcam business. <\/span><\/p>\n

Later that month, the victim wired $1 million to a bank account under Khalafian’s control because she believed his promises.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the same day he received the funds, Khalafian transferred $200,000 of the victim\u2019s money to an account to pay his rent, for luxury cars, and other personal expenses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The day after he received these funds, Khalafian used $66,000 of the victim\u2019s money to purchase a new Ford F-150 truck. He also used more than $100,000 of the victim\u2019s money at casinos, to pay back another investor, to pay his rent, and on luxury shopping sprees at retailers such as Tiffany, Barney\u2019s, Fendi, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Louis Vuitton. <\/span><\/p>\n

Khalafian never paid the victim back any of his investment, and he stopped responding to the victim\u2019s messages in October 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

Khalafian also admitted to conning two other victims in 2015 and 2016 out of $80,000 and $90,000, respectively, using their money on personal expenses and not his adult webcam business. Khalafian paid back neither victim any of their money.<\/span><\/p>\n

In total, Khalafian\u2019s fraud caused a total loss of at least $1.17 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FBI investigated this matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant United States Attorney Roger A. Hsieh of the Major Frauds Section is prosecuting this case.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Montrose man pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding investors out of more than $1 million, federal officials stated. He made false promises that they would receive an ownership interest in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMan Guilty of Operating a $1.2 million Adult Webcam Business That Conned Investors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Montrose man pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding investors out of more than $1 million, federal officials stated. He made false\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57052\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man Guilty of Operating a $1.2 million Adult Webcam Business That Conned Investors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0LOS ANGELES A Montrose man pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding investors out of more than $1 million, federal officials stated. 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