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TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that a Millstone Township man was sentenced
to prison for stealing $690,000 from more
than two dozen victims who invested millions
of dollars in his fraudulent get-rich-quick
scheme.
According
to Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni,
Michael D’Angelo, 48, of Millstone Township,
was sentenced on Friday, Nov. 6, to three
years in state prison by Superior Court Judge
Francis P. DeStefano in Monmouth County. D’Angelo
pleaded guilty on Jan. 26 to a charge of second-degree
theft by deception filed by the Division of
Criminal Justice Major Crimes Bureau.
On
April 29, D’Angelo executed a consent
order to settle a lawsuit filed by the New
Jersey Bureau of Securities, which investigated
the securities fraud involving D’Angelo
and his company, CMR Mngt. Group LLC. Under
the consent order, D’Angelo must pay
a total of $670,177 in restitution, penalties
and disgorged funds.
“The
Division of Criminal Justice has worked closely
with the Bureau of Securities to ensure that
this defendant is held accountable for his
crime, not only by paying restitution but
also by serving the prison sentence imposed
today,” said Attorney General Milgram.
“We are doing everything in our power
to recover the funds he stole from investors.”
The
Division of Criminal Justice has filed a civil
forfeiture action against D’Angelo’s
home, which is in the name of his wife, Diana.
She pleaded guilty to third-degree theft by
deception for her role in the fraudulent scheme
and was admitted into the Pre-Trial Intervention
program.
Michael
D’Angelo was charged in a March 7, 2008
state grand jury indictment obtained by the
Division of Criminal Justice. The investigation
by the Bureau of Securities, and a separate
investigation by the Division of Criminal
Justice, revealed that between January 2004
and January 2006, D’Angelo solicited
approximately $3,260,000 from 26 investors,
including at least 24 New Jersey residents.
D’Angelo
offered investments in the CMR “Capital
Enhancement Program,” promising a guaranteed
rate of return of 5 percent interest per month
and return of the investor’s principal
after 12 months. Investors were told their
money was absolutely safe because it was held
in “non-depletion funds” or “non-accessible”
bank accounts. Investors were given conflicting
stories about how profits were generated,
including foreign currency trading, unspecified
activity in Switzerland, U.S. government money
manipulation, and trading in large blocks
of bank notes.
In
reality, D’Angelo commingled investor
funds, using funds from new investors to pay
old investors in the typical fashion of a
Ponzi scheme. He diverted large sums into
his wife’s bank accounts to pay the
couple’s personal expenses including,
among other things, the mortgage payments
for their lavish home and payments on high-end
cars.
Approximately
$2,570,000 was returned to investors, including
payments totaling $1,946,100 that were made
to some of the investors after D’Angelo
became aware of the Bureau of Securities investigation.
In return for the payments, the investors
were required to sign fraudulent releases
stating that D’Angelo had not engaged
in fraud or sold the investors any securities.
Deputy
Attorney General Patrick Flor prosecuted the
case and handled today’s sentencing
for the Division of Criminal Justice Major
Crimes Bureau.
Investigator
Richard Smullen, Investigator Isaac Reyes,
Supervising Investigator Michael McElgunn,
and Chief of Enforcement Richard Barry conducted
the investigation for the Bureau of Securities.
Detective Sgt. Noelle Holl conducted the separate
investigation by the Division of Criminal
Justice. Deputy Attorney General Victoria
Manning and Deputy Attorney General Stacey
M. Davey filed the lawsuit for the Bureau
of Securities. Deputy Attorney General Michael
McCormick is handling the civil forfeiture
action for the Division of Criminal Justice.
Bureau
of Securities Chief Marc B. Minor noted that
anyone offering to sell securities in the
state must be registered with the New Jersey
Bureau of Securities. In many instances, the
security itself must also be registered before
it can be offered to investors. Investors
should contact the Bureau of Securities before
investing to determine whether the security
and the person offering it are registered
in New Jersey.
The
Bureau of Securities can be contacted toll-free
within New Jersey at 1-877-I-INVEST
(1-877-446-8378) or from outside
New Jersey at 973-504-3600.
The Bureau’s web site is located at
www.njsecurities.gov.
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