Disbarred Hillsborough Attorney Sentenced For Ponzi-Like Wire Fraud Scheme

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — A disbarred attorney from Hillsborough was sentenced to 30 months in prison for a wire fraud scheme that caused more than $1 million in losses to clients, U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced.

Lawrence Coven, 61, of Hillsborough, previously pleaded guilty in October 2024 before Judge Robert Kirsch in Trenton federal court to an Information charging him with one count of wire fraud. Judge Kirsch imposed the sentence.

Coven owned Sunrise Enterprises LLC, which purported to provide financial services to investors.

In reality, Coven convinced investors to send him funds by falsely claiming he would invest their money through Sunrise in exchange for large profits, according to documents filed in this case and statements made in court.

He falsely guaranteed investors returns between 10 to 15 percent on their investments and told investors that their investments were risk-free, according to court documents.

Instead of investing the money, Coven used investor funds for personal expenses, including utilities, entertainment, real estate, credit card bills, and cash withdrawals, said authorities.

When investors began asking questions, Coven gave them false assurances that their money was safe and used money from existing investors to make payments to other investors in a Ponzi-like fashion, said authorities.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Kirsch sentenced Coven to three years of supervised release.

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