A Miami-Dade County resident was sentenced by United States District Judge Marcia G. Cooke in Miami to 38 months imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, for organizing and engaging in a fraudulent investment scheme in South Florida.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Robert C. Hutchinson, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), and J.D. Patterson, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD), made the announcement.
On August 7, 2015, Anthony Lazaro Saumell, 45, of Doral, was convicted by a jury of seven counts of wire fraud.
According to documents and statements made in court, Saumell organized and engaged in a complex fraudulent investment scheme to defraud investors in South Florida. Saumell deceived victims into investing approximately $3.9 million dollars into his company, Gear Management Corporation. Victims were told their investment would be used to purchase aircraft parts which would then be sold for a profit. Saumell guaranteed victims a ten percent profit within thirty days but subsequently used the incoming investments to pay other investors or on his personal expenses, such as jewelry, dining, alimony, private school and art galleries. By October 2013, Saumell had spent all of the investors' funds and Gear Management Corporation became insolvent. Investors suffered approximately $1 million dollars in losses.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of ICE-HSI and MDPD. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gera Peoples and AUSA Daya Nathan.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
