Groton Jeweler Charged In Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Scheme

GROTON, CT – Court officials said a Groton wholesale jewelry distributor charged in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme made an initial appearance in court Thursday. The suspect, 51-year old Gerald Kent of Groton, was ordered detained in federal custody, according to a release.

Officials said Kent is the owner and operator of Kent Jewelry in Johnston, Rhode Island. He is charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, officials said. (To sign up for Groton breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

According to court documents, Kent orchestrated a multi-million dollar fraud scheme through his company that defrauded a debtor finance company of more than $3.6 million dollars. Officials said the suspect's business primarily sells jewelry on the internet using websites such as Groupon.com and Zulily.com,

Officials said Kent allegedly submitted fraudulent invoices to a factoring (debtor finance) company based in Chicago, which resulted in payments of nearly $5 million dollars to the suspect.

Officials also said Kent allegedly created hundreds of fraudulent invoices to execute the scheme, which were submitted to the factoring company for which he received payment. The suspect is charged with creating and using a fraudulent clone of Groupon, Inc.’s website, as well as enlisting people to pose as Groupon employees.

The suspect then allegedly opened bank accounts in the names of Groupon and Zulily, Inc., in order to deceive the debtor finance company into believing it was receiving payments from these companies.

Officials said Kent was arrested Wednesday evening at Foxwoods. He is scheduled to next appear in court July 26.

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