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Beverly Hills Telemarketer, 65, Sentenced To 12 Years - KNBC-TV - MSNBC.com
LOS ANGELES - A Beverly Hills telemarketer who sold fraudulent investments primarily to elderly victims will spend 12 and a half years in federal prison, prosecutors announced Tuesday. Alan David Libman, 65, whose sentence was handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer in downtown Los Angeles, pleaded guilty last September to mail fraud and money laundering charges.
Libman ran a Beverly Hills-based company called Investment Strategies, which purported to offer short-term investments in art, coins and other collectible items, such as U.S. presidential memorabilia and historic documents, said U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek.
Libman falsely promised his investors that he would produce returns of 20 percent to 30 percent over the course of 90 days -- and suggested that they could reap larger returns with larger investments, according to court papers. Libman also offered to keep custody of the items, which he said would help facilitate their resale, prosecutors said.
In reality, Libman collected about $5.5 million from investors between 1994 and 2004 -- and spent only about $100,000 on collectibles, according to court documents. Instead, he used most of his ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle and mail a small number of payments to investors as part of his Ponzi scheme, according to the government.
Prosecutors said Libman ran various bogus companies over a 10-year period and that more than $20 million moved through his bank accounts during that time.
One elderly victim -- a man in his 80s -- lost about $980,000 to Libman, who once offered him a bracelet that the late baseball legend Joe DiMaggio supposedly gave to Marilyn Monroe, Mrozek said.
Libman eventually sold the bracelet to a different man for $90,000, Mrozek said. When that victim had the bracelet appraised, he discovered it was only worth $6,000, Mrozek said.
LOS ANGELES - A Beverly Hills telemarketer who sold fraudulent investments primarily to elderly victims will spend 12 and a half years in federal prison, prosecutors announced Tuesday. Alan David Libman, 65, whose sentence was handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer in downtown Los Angeles, pleaded guilty last September to mail fraud and money laundering charges.
Libman ran a Beverly Hills-based company called Investment Strategies, which purported to offer short-term investments in art, coins and other collectible items, such as U.S. presidential memorabilia and historic documents, said U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek.
Libman falsely promised his investors that he would produce returns of 20 percent to 30 percent over the course of 90 days -- and suggested that they could reap larger returns with larger investments, according to court papers. Libman also offered to keep custody of the items, which he said would help facilitate their resale, prosecutors said.
In reality, Libman collected about $5.5 million from investors between 1994 and 2004 -- and spent only about $100,000 on collectibles, according to court documents. Instead, he used most of his ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle and mail a small number of payments to investors as part of his Ponzi scheme, according to the government.
Prosecutors said Libman ran various bogus companies over a 10-year period and that more than $20 million moved through his bank accounts during that time.
One elderly victim -- a man in his 80s -- lost about $980,000 to Libman, who once offered him a bracelet that the late baseball legend Joe DiMaggio supposedly gave to Marilyn Monroe, Mrozek said.
Libman eventually sold the bracelet to a different man for $90,000, Mrozek said. When that victim had the bracelet appraised, he discovered it was only worth $6,000, Mrozek said.
