A Massachusetts couple has been sentenced for running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded dozens of investors out of millions of dollars, according to WealthManagement.com.
34-year-old Milendophe Duperier was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun to five years in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release. Duperier’s girlfriend and business partner, 27-year-old Vanessa Joseph, was sentenced to time served (one day), to be followed by two years of supervised release. Both pleaded guilty in July to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Duperier acted as an investment advisor, soliciting investments from individuals and advising them that their funds would be invested in the securities markets. “Between early 2018 and December 2022, Duperier and Joseph defrauded dozens of individual investors by falsely representing that Duperier would use the entirety of their investments to purchase securities,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated. “However, instead of investing the funds in the securities markets as promised, Duperier and Joseph used the funds to pay prior investors and for personal purchases and expenses – including payments for luxury vehicles and mortgage and credit card debt.”
The investors, many of whom had invested their life savings, were defrauded out of over $3.2 million. Prosecutors said that as part of the scheme, Duperier and Joseph applied for and obtained several Small Business Administration and Paycheck Protection Program loans from the federal government during the COVID-19 crisis for various business entities they owned, and used those loan proceeds to pay purported investment returns to victim investors.
In addition, Duperier made false statements and excuses to investors as to why he had not made promised interest payments and/or could not return the investors’ principal.
It was reported that Duperier’s father was a pastor at a Massachusetts Haitian church, and that the defendants focused on victimizing members of the state’s Haitian community.
Along with the prison terms, Duperier and Joseph will also have to pay restitution that will be determined at a later date.
Hyman Cotter PC routinely represents investors harmed when financial professionals and their firms engaged in misconduct that caused their clients investment losses. Our team includes lawyers who have worked for large financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley and UBS Financial Services, and regulatory bodies such as the SEC. If you think your financial professional or firm engaged in misconduct that caused you investment losses, contact Hyman Cotter PC at 312-291-4600 or through our online contact form for a no-cost evaluation of your matter.
