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TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow and
Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor
announced that an Ocean County woman has
been sentenced to state prison for defrauding
investors of $925,000 through a false investment
scheme.
According
to Director Taylor, Zina A. Martin, 45,
of Jackson, was sentenced late Friday, Nov.
5, to 10 years in state prison by Superior
Court Judge James Den Uyl in Ocean County.
Martin was also ordered to pay restitution
to her victims of $925,000. Martin pleaded
guilty on June 29 to second-degree theft
by deception, a charge contained in a Feb.
15, 2008 state grand jury indictment.
In
pleading guilty, Martin admitted that between
Dec. 1, 2006 and May 1, 2007, she defrauded
investors by representing to them that their
money would be placed in certain investment
vehicles when, in fact, she intended to
use the funds for other purposes. An investigation
by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities determined
that Martin used the funds to pay business
expenses, make payments to other investors,
and pay personal expenses, including mortgage
payments, monthly living expenses and the
purchase of a Cadillac Escalade.
Martin
solicited $925,000 from about 30 investors
as sole owner and president of Kairos Financial
Corporation, which had offices at 331 Newman
Springs Road in Red Bank. The state investigation
revealed that Martin distributed a brochure
to investors describing six different investment
funds called the “Kairos Funds,”
including average yearly returns for some
of the funds. She also issued monthly statements
informing investors of the amounts they
purportedly held in each of the funds. In
reality, the Kairos Funds were fictitious
and investor monies were commingled in a
brokerage account of Kairos Financial.
Deputy
Attorney General James Ruberton took the
plea for the Division of Criminal Justice
and represented the state at the sentencing.
The case was investigated for the Bureau
of Securities by Supervising Investigator
Michael McElgunn and Investigator Richard
Smullen. Detective Eric Ludwick, and Deputy
Attorneys General Ruberton and Patrick Flor
handled the case for the Division of Criminal
Justice Major Crimes Bureau.
In
October 2007, the Bureau
of Securities revoked the investment
adviser registrations of both Martin and
Kairos Financial.
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