LAWFUEL – Legal Newswire – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that BORIS
SHUSTER, a/k/a “Robert Shuster,” 35, of Brooklyn, New York, was
sentenced to 150 months in prison for leading and organizing a
fraudulent foreign currency exchange scheme that resulted in
losses of approximately $6.5 million to more than 200 investors.
All eleven defendants charged in the scheme have pleaded guilty
to wire fraud, mail fraud, or conspiracy charges. In addition to
the term of imprisonment, United States District Judge VICTOR
MARRERO ordered SHUSTER to pay a fine of $10,000, pay in
restitution $6,432,297, and forfeit to the government $7,895,462.
According to the Indictment and other documents filed in the
case:
BORIS SHUSTER and co-defendant ALEXANDER DZEDETS, a/k/a
“Sasha Dzedets,” ran and operated a fraudulent foreign currency
exchange (“forex”) firm called Holston, Young, Parker &
Associates (“Holston”), from an office on William Street in
Manhattan where they employed nine other co-defendants. SHUSTER,
DZEDETS, and co-defendant VICTOR ALTMAN ran Holston as a “boiler
room,” where the employees lied to investors and prospective
investors over the phones, and used high pressure sales
techniques to solicit investments in Holston’s purported forex
trading program.
The defendants lied about the use of invested
funds, used false names and titles when they telephoned potential
investors throughout the United States, lied about their
experience in the industry, lied about the company’s history and
success generating profits for clients, and lied about their own
client-base. For example, one Holston employee falsely claimed
to have celebrities and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies as his
clients when, in fact, there were no such clients. Also, almost
all of the employees were given and used the title “Senior Vice-
President,” regardless of actual training or experience, to
create the false impression that the investors were speaking with
high-level, experienced professionals.
Funds raised from the investors through use of the
misleading and false sales pitches and marketing materials were
not used to make investments in the forex market, but were
instead diverted to bank accounts in Cyprus and Russia, and
misappropriated. Investors were sent periodic statements showing
modest gains from the supposed forex trading, when in face the
funds had not been invested in the forex market. More than 200
victim-investors were defrauded of approximately $6.5 million.
The Indictment charged one count of conspiracy to
commit wire and mail fraud, 14 counts of wire fraud, and 13
counts of mail fraud.
On June 12, 2007, BORIS SHUSTER pleaded guilty to one
count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 14 counts of
wire fraud, and 13 counts of mail fraud.
On December 10, 2007, DZEDETS, 32, a resident of
Canada, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, and one count
of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
On December 10, 2007, VICTOR ALTMAN, 38, a resident of
Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud,
and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
On January 8, 2008, VINCENT C. ARMATO, 25, a resident
of Staten Island, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of wire
fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
On December 7, 2007, IGOR G. KOMET, a/k/a “Gary Komet,”
31, a resident of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty to one count
of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and
wire fraud.
On December 21, 2007, ADAM LICHTENBAUM, 26, a resident
of Forest Hills, Queens, pleaded guilty to one count of wire
fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
On May 31, 2007, DAVID LOZOVSKY, 31, a resident of
Forest Hills, Queens, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud,
one count of mail fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit
mail and wire fraud.
On December 20, 2007, LARRY SHUSTER, 25, a resident of
Forest Hills, Queens, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud,
and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
On December 17, 2007, EDWARD SHAROV, 25, a resident of
Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud,
and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
On December 17, 2007, BORIS TAGER, a/k/a “Bobby Tager,”
a/k/a “Robert Tanner,” 35, a resident of Brooklyn, New York,
pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, and one count of
conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
On November 5, 2007, PETER TORRALES, JR., 29, a
resident of New Jersey, pleaded guilty to one count of wire
fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
TORRALES is scheduled to be sentenced on March 14,
2008. ALTMAN, KOMET, DZEDETS and SHAROV are scheduled to be
sentenced on April 4, 2008. TAGER, LICHTENBAUM, and LARRY
SHUSTER are scheduled to be sentenced on April 25, 2008. ARMATO
is scheduled to be sentenced on May 2, 2008. LOZOVSKY is
scheduled to be sentenced on May 30, 2008.
Mr. GARCIA praised the work of the Commodities and
Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorneys STEVEN D. FELDMAN and
MARC O. LITT are in charge of the prosecutions.
08-40 ###
