Sham Drone Company Head Fined $1.5M In Brooklyn Court: Feds

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A New Jersey man who scammed investors by pretending to make drones was sentenced in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday, prosecutors said.

George Trevor Porrata, 46, was ordered to spend five years in prison and to pay almost $1.5 million in restitution and fines for sending out phony public releases about a drone company that existed only on paper, according to federal prosecutors.

Porrata was found guilty of securities fraud for launching Halberd, a publicly traded corporation that he claimed produced aerial drones in numerous press releases sent out between March 2010 to September 2013, said prosecutors.

The press releases detailed Halberd’s made-up milestones, which included opening a sales office, buying a production facility and submitting a bid for a government contract, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Investors lost more than $1 million when Porrata and his partners sold their shares in the company at inflated prices, said prosecutors.

Porrata, of West New York in New Jersey, was sentenced to five years for conspiring to commit securities fraud and ordered to pay $1,046,385.50 in restitution and a $400,000 fine, prosecutors said.

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