Westchester Elder Financial Fraud Attorneys

Due to an explosion in wealth and population, Westchester is one of the first suburban upper-middle-class areas of its scale in the world to develop. Westchester has some of the priciest zip codes in all of New York State and around the United States. Rye, Purchase, Scarsdale, Larchmont, Harrison, Armonk, Chappaqua, and Bedford are home to a number of million-dollar estates, and easily make it to the top of richest neighborhoods in New York, with median household incomes exceeding $350,000. Westchester County has a higher median household income than New York County at $86,108 (Data USA 2016). Our Westchester securities fraud attorneys and elder financial fraud attorneys have worked with residents of Westchester on a range of securities fraud cases, involving modest to large sums of money and investments.

Where upscale shopping centers and invitation-only clubs abound, the affluent county has also seen its share of Ponzi, affinity, and elder fraud scams. Malecki Law’s securities fraud lawyers have worked on investment scams and frauds that use unethical practices to influence investors. In a much talked about case, Anthony John Johnson was reportedly sentenced to imprisonment for running a $12 million Ponzi scheme through his investment advisory service Gibraltar Partners. He allegedly defrauded 72 families by placing their money in investment ventures around the world in countries like Australia and China. He allegedly committed these crimes while awaiting sentencing on another securities crime making it “all the more shocking”, mentioned the then United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Loretta Lynch.

In 2016, two men from New Rochelle who ran Platinum Partners L.P. were reportedly indicted on securities and investment adviser fraud charges for defrauding investors from the orthodox Jewish community. They allegedly ran a $1,000,000,000 Ponzi scheme and committed fraud by the overvaluation of their assets, concealing cash flow issues, and preferential payment redemptions. A few years earlier, two accountants from Westchester, Brown and Mangini, allegedly took the name of an inoperative company, Infinity Reserves-Tennessee Inc., owned by a client. They reportedly sold fake promissory notes guaranteeing a 10 percent return and stocks of this supposedly profitable company owning a gas pipeline, whereas the gas pipeline in question had been inactive for years.

Michael Scronic, an investment advisor based in Westchester, was reportedly charged for running a Ponzi scheme for over half a decade defrauding friends and acquaintances by encouraging them to invest in a risky trading strategy. According to reports, Scronic started to accrue money from over 40 individuals and persuaded them that high profitable returns would be guaranteed under his advice. Scronic allegedly misstated the reality of the liquidity of the investments as well as proceeded to hemorrhage the money through extreme losses resulting in more than $15,000,000. Purportedly, Scronic misled investors into thinking their total assets amounted to over $21,000,000 when in reality Scronic’s brokerage account had below $27,500 in 2017. The SEC explained that as investors became restless to redeem their investments, Scronic supposedly never revealed that he was unable able to pay them back and rather provided multiple excuses as well as obtained other investment capital to pay certain parties back. According to the complaint, Scronic also dishonestly referred to himself as an investment advisor of a nonexistent hedge fund in order to sell interest and shares. This Westchester based Ponzi scheme mislead countless suburban families and individuals and as a result, Scronic is reportedly in violation of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 alongside Sections 206(1), 206(2), and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The SEC is pursuing disgorgement, interests, and civil penalties against Scronic.

Our securities fraud law firm works with investors and investment professionals on investment fraud claims and whistleblower representation. Our securities fraud attorneys have handled a number of securities litigation, arbitration, and mediation cases with record settlements and awards. In Westchester, a growing number of elder financial abuse cases have been reported against elder residents of this community. Elder financial abuse can range from improper use of funds, falsification of records, embezzlement, coercion, and denial to fraud. Elders are especially vulnerable to affinity fraud and other schemes sometimes as a result of their diminished capacity. Malecki Law’s investment loss attorneys works with regulatory and self-regulatory bodies like FINRA to protect vulnerable elders in Westchester from getting scammed

If you or anyone you know has been solicited with questionable schemes or seen suspicious activities in your accounts, schedule a free initial consultation with Malecki Law, by calling (212) 943-1233, or emailing jenice@maleckilaw.com.