Crime & Safety
Old Bridge Investment Firm Owners Indicted On Fraud Charges
Three men who ran a finance company in Old Bridge were charged with running a $40 million securities fraud scheme.
OLD BRIDGE, NJ — Three men who ran a claims aggregator firm based in Old Bridge were arrested in November and charged with running a $40 million securities fraud scheme, say U.S. Attorneys.
The men were principals of Alpha Plus Recovery, located in Old Bridge. A claim aggregator firm is a company that submits claims on behalf of its clients to administrators tasked with returning settlement funds to harmed investors.
The men who were arrested are Joseph Cammarata, 47, of Monmouth Beach, Erik Cohen, 40, of Manalapan and David Punturieri, 41, of Staten Island. All have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit multiple counts of securities fraud.
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Federal prosecutors say that from 2014 to this year, the three men stole $40 million by running complicated financial schemes and manipulations.
“These defendants manipulated complicated financial transactions for years in order to steal roughly $40 million,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams. “Cammarata, Cohen and Punturieri committed fraud on top of fraud, filing claims on behalf of clients that didn’t actually exist and doctoring false financial documents to support those fraudulent claims. Their alleged scheme has now been uncovered and they will have to answer for their conduct.”
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Each man is facing a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors say they used Alpha Plus Recovery to make false claims to the proceeds of securities fraud class-action and SEC enforcement action settlements. They falsely claimed that corporate clients of Alpha Plus Recovery had purchased shares of securities that were the subject of the lawsuits and enforcement actions.
In reality, the clients, which were fake entities actually controlled by the three men, had not purchased the securities.
To substantiate the false claims, the men created fraudulent brokerage and other financial documents, and then transferred the money into accounts they controlled.
The IRS and FBI investigated this case.
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