Groton Man Charged In Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Scheme

PROVIDENCE, CT – A Rhode Island jewelry distributor pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges that he orchestrated a long-running fraud scheme that defrauded a debtor finance company of more than $3.6 million dollars, court officials said.

Court officials said Gerald Kent, 52, of Groton, owner and operator of Kent Jewelry formerly located in Johnston, R.I., admitted as part of a plea deal that he executed the fraud scheme while selling his company’s jewelry on the internet, primarily using websites such as Groupon.com and Zulily.com.

Court officials said the suspect admitted to submitting fraudulent invoices to a factoring (debtor finance) company based in Chicago, which resulted in payments to him of nearly $5 million dollars, according to a release.

As part of the deal, Kent admitted to creating hundreds of fraudulent invoices, which were submitted to the factoring company for which he received payment, court officials said.

The suspect also said he created and used a fraudulent clone of Groupon, Inc.’s website, enlisted co-conspirators to pose as Groupon employees and 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, according to court officials.

The suspect was first charged in this matter by way of a criminal complaint filed on July 17, court officials said. He was ordered released on $50,000 unsecured bond on July 26.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 9, 2018, court officials said.

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