Long Island Investment Broker Pleads Guilty To $1M Ponzi Scheme: Prosecutors

MINEOLA, NY — A former Glen Cove investment broker pleaded guilty Friday to running a $1 million Ponzi scheme — spending the money on his mortgage, a country club membership, credit card payments, and daily expenses like dry cleaning and phone bills — targeting four friends and neighbors, Nassau prosecutors said.

Rand Heckler, 67, pleaded guilty to a count of second-degree grand larceny and fifth-degree scheme to defraud. He is expected to receive a 2 1/2- to seven-year sentence in July.

Heckler will be expected to forfeit of $48,000 seized from his bank account, and he will receive a civil judgment order for the restitution balance.

District Attorney Anne Donnelly said that beginning in 2015, Heckler recommended his friend and friend’s son to invest in a hedge fund of stocks and securities that he was managing — it was an offer only for his closest 15-20 friends and associates.

Between December 2015 and January 2020, the victims wrote Heckler 24 checks, totaling $755,159, and he showed them statements with the names of the stocks and the hedge fund account’s value, Donnelly said.

Heckler also showed them false trade confirmations as proof that the stocks had been purchased. Donnelly said.

In January 2020, the friend’s son, who has power of attorney for his father, asked Heckler for $100,000 from his father’s account, part of which was for his children’s trust fund, Donnelly said, adding that in February 2020, after several weeks of delay, the man received the $100,000 by wire to his bank account and was told the money was from the sale of stock.

Prosecutors later discovered in May 2020, after receiving the case from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, that the money was wired directly from another victim in February, Donnelly said.

That victim, who is the defendant’s neighbor, went to the bank with the defendant in February 2020 believing she was wiring a $100,000 life insurance payment from her dead husband into the hedge fund, when in fact, she was wiring the money directly to the first victim’s son, according to Donnelly.

As this was transpiring, Heckler's neighbor believed she would receive monthly dividend payments from her investment and did not know there was a problem until NCDA investigators contacted her, Donnelly said.

At least two other victims were discovered to have been defrauded by Heckler "in a similar manner," according to Donnelly.

Heckler solicited others by cold-calling them in other states and then getting them to agree to invest, Donnelly said.

Rand Heckler roped friends, neighbors, and even strangers, draining them of their money, according to Donnelly.

“The defendant used the stolen cash to finance a luxurious lifestyle, that included a country club membership and other expenses," she said. "Investment brokers are trusted to make smart financial decisions for their clients, but this defendant’s conduct shows he was only in business for himself.”

His attorney, Michael Finkelstein of Garden City, said he and his client wanted to thank the DA's office and Judge Terence Murphy "for the time and courtesies granted in this difficult matter."

Finkelstein that he was confident that the proper sentencing will be established .

"Mr. Heckler is working diligently to make those who were wronged whole," he added.