Hillsborough Investment Advisor Pleads Guilty To Scamming Elderly

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — A former registered investment advisor from Hillsborough admitted to running a Ponzi scheme targeting elderly investors and using their money for his own personal expenses, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Daniel Rivera, 60, of Hillsborough pleaded guilty on Thursday to a superseding information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting in the false subscribing to a tax return, Carpenito said.

An investigation found that Rivera primarily took elderly investors' money from 2008 to 2011 to invest in a company called Robbins Lane Properties Inc.

Rivera claimed the company was staffed by experienced real estate professionals who would invest client's funds in real estate ventures and would receive a guaranteed monthly income, according to the indictment.

In reality, Robbins Lane had no employees, no real estate portfolio, and the monies used to pay investors as a purported return on their investments was from funds he received from other investors, according to the indictment.

Rivera instead used the money he got from investors to pay his personal and unrelated business expenses, including paying his child's college tuition and sorority fees, according to the indictment.

He could face a maximum potential punishment of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross loss or gain caused by the offense on the wire fraud count. He also could face a maximum potential punishment of three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the aiding and abetting in the subscribing to a false tax return count.

Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 21, 2020.

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.