A Nevada woman has been sentenced to 120 months in prison for orchestrating a $7 million advance fee Ponzi scheme and obstructing the government's investigation, according to U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.
Anna Kline, formerly known as Jordana Weber, 35, from Sparks, Nevada, had previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn in Camden federal court to two counts of wire fraud. The sentence was imposed by Judge O’Hearn in Camden federal court. Kline is also required to serve three years of supervised release and pay $3,403,000 in restitution.
The fraudulent activities took place between April 2017 and July 2019 when Kline owned and operated several shell companies that falsely claimed to offer lending services to small business owners seeking high-value loans often exceeding $100 million. Victims were required to pay up to 5% of the potential loan amount as a "fee" before the loan was funded.
Kline purportedly conducted due diligence on these loans but frequently provided victims with false explanations for delays in funding. Falsified documents such as bank statements were also given to victims, suggesting that the shell companies had sufficient funds.
The fees collected from victims were used by Kline and her significant other, Jason Torres, for personal expenses including luxury vehicles, artwork, vacations, and repaying previous victims in a traditional Ponzi scheme manner. At least six victims transferred approximately $7 million into bank accounts controlled by Kline.
After being arrested on charges related to the scheme in July 2019 and released on bail, Kline attempted to obstruct the investigation by providing falsified evidence through her then-attorney. This included a manipulated .pdf document purporting to show threatening iMessages from Torres and an altered computer claiming an iTunes backup with alleged text messages.
U.S. Attorney Habba credited special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly for their role in leading the investigation resulting in sentencing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney’s Cybercrime Unit in Newark represented the government.
Defense counsel for Anna Kline was Michael Huff from Philadelphia, PA.
