FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press |
Three of the suspects were arrested without incident in
The defendants were identified as
The four were account representatives of
Cosmo was called a "mini-Madoff" because he was arrested in
The complaint unsealed Wednesday alleges the four pocketed huge commissions for assisting Cosmo and Agape in running the scheme. Keryc, Massaro, Ciccone and Kaylor are accused of receiving commissions of approximately
Federal court documents show Massaro pleaded guilty in 1997 to one count of importing four pounds of heroin into
Agape promised huge returns on investments, which were to be used only to fund specific, short-term secured bridge loans to commercial borrowers or to make short-term loans to small businesses, prosecutors said. They say the defendants knew that Agape and AMA did not produce or earn rates of return that could support the exorbitant returns promised to investors, but continued to solicit money from investors.
Prosecutors said that the defendants learned in
As investors became increasingly concerned about their investments, the four allegedly offered them a fictitious insurance policy, promising that those who purchased the insurance plan would own a portion of liens that purportedly secured repayment of the bridge loans. They raised approximately
At Cosmo's sentencing last fall, several people spoke about how they had lost their life's savings investing with Agape. The more than 4,000 victims include teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses and construction workers.
"I'm going to be working until they put me in the grave," said one of the victims,
Cosmo apologized at the sentencing, saying he never intended to hurt anyone.
Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence for his fraud.
-__
Associated Press Legal Affairs Writer
Copyright: | Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. |
Source: | Associated Press |
Wordcount: | 566 |
More Articles