Look out for folks on relationship apps who supply funding alternatives too good to be true.
That is the message from the District Lawyer’s Workplace in New York Metropolis, which just lately introduced expenses in opposition to a mendacity Lothario they allege swindled his lovers out of tens of millions.
Nelson Counne, who additionally goes by “Nelson Roth” or “Justin Roth,” was indicted in a Manhattan court docket for bilking greater than $1.8 million from 5 ladies by way of a sequence of romance and funding scams.
“He allegedly fed lie after deceive ladies he falsely claimed to have a romantic curiosity in, engaging them with funding alternatives that by no means existed whereas utilizing their funds to repay previous victims, lure in new ones, and fund his way of life,” stated District Lawyer Alvin L. Bragg, Jr.
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Counne, 69, met most of his victims through on-line relationship websites, the place he posed as a rich retired artwork supplier and investor with properties in London, Manhattan, and the South of France, in accordance with the indictment.
In actuality, Counne would not personal any properties and by no means travels internationally—he would not actually have a passport. His sole supply of earnings was the cash he stole from his lovers between 2012 and 2021.
The rip-off labored like this: After profitable his victims’ affection and belief, Counne satisfied a lot of them to take a position with him. He by no means shared any particulars of his enterprise dealing, claiming the investments have been in a “grey space between authorized and unlawful” and that he had entry to inside info.
A few of his phony investments included Alibaba and a start-up purportedly run by a former Google government, which would supply a web based lottery that potential faculty college students may pay to enter for an opportunity to win tuition protection.
“A lot of the victims have been initially hesitant, however Counne persevered till every agreed to take a position,” in accordance with a press launch by the Manhattan District Lawyer’s Workplace.
A Ponzi scheme
The DA alleges that Counne ran a basic Ponzi scheme, utilizing the cash from considered one of his marks to pay one other. This enabled him to seem rich to new victims and repay earlier victims suspicious of his fraud.
Counne now faces expenses of scheme to defraud within the first diploma, grand larceny within the second diploma, and grand larceny within the third diploma.
Romance scams like this will not be unusual. In 2021, some 24,000 victims reported shedding roughly $1 billion to romance scams, in accordance with the FBI.
