Long Island Man Ran $500K Ponzi Scheme: DA

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A Mount Sinai man was arrested and indicted after he defrauded investors in a Ponzi scheme worth more than $500,000, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini said Friday.

Craig L. Clavin, 61, and his company Lighthouse Futures, was charged with fraud, grand larceny and money laundering, among other charges.

Clavin solicited investments into Lighthouse Futures Commodity Pool, an investment fund managed by his company, Sini said. He told investors the company would participate in the commodities market and between 2012 and 2017, Clavin received more than $500,000 dollars from investors for the purpose of investing the funds into commodities, Sini said. Clavin promised the guaranteed return of their investment in full by the end of each year with an option to roll the funds over into the following year, Sini said.

Clavin instead used most of the funds for his personal and unrelated business use, including making payments on his credit cards, student loans, insurance and everyday expenses, the DA said.

"As with any Ponzi scheme, this was a scam built on greed and deceit," Sini said. "The defendant bilked his own friends and associates out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, promising to turn their hard-earned savings into solid investments. Instead he used some of their money to further the scheme, and used the rest to line his own pockets. We believe there may be additional victims out there and encourage anyone who might have been a victim of this scheme to contact our office."

Clavin hid his theft by fabricating documents and telling investors they were earning "dividends" and profits on their investments, Sini said. Between 2013 and 2016, at minimum, he used investors' money to pay back funds to others investors, claiming that the funds were "returns" on their investments, officials said.

While Clavin did occasionally trade through his own personal investment account and transferred a small portion of the investor funds into that account, he was not a registered Commodity Pool Operator, Sini said.

Clavin and his company were charged with second-degree grand larceny (a class C felony), second-degree money laundering (a class C felony), 13 counts of third-degree grand larceny (a class D felony) and first-degree scheme to defraud (an class E felony). Clavin faces five to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top count.

Clavin was arraigned Thursday and released on his own recognizance. He is due back in court on June 29.

Sini urges anyone who believes he or she is a victim of the scheme to call the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office’s Financial Investigations & Money Laundering Bureau at 631-853-4232.