A Florida man has been arrested and indicted for allegedly operating what authorities said was a three-year securities fraud scheme, reports WealthManagement.com.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced the charges against Marc Henry Menard, who is accused of stealing more than $600,000 from 11 investors in a scheme that targeted the Haitian community in New York, Florida, and Georgia.
Menard was arrested in Sunrise, Florida recently and indicted on 24 counts, including grand larceny, securities fraud, and falsifying business records.
James said an investigation revealed that from July 2020 through June 2023, Menard allegedly solicited members of the Haitian community to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into his company, Marcotech LLC. He allegedly promised investors monthly returns of between 12 and 20 percent and promised higher percentages if they recruited additional individuals to invest. To solicit the investments, prosecutors said Menard claimed to be an experienced and highly successful trader of stocks and cryptocurrencies.
According to the charges, Menard deposited a portion of investors’ money into his own personal trading accounts and used these funds to engage in risky trading options, including high-risk day trading and options trading, which resulted in losses totaling over $670,000. Menard also allegedly used hundreds of thousands of investors’ dollars to repay prior investors and for personal spending, including trips to Turkey, Puerto Rico, and Disney World, a Mercedes-Benz and a BMW, and purchases at luxury retailers such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci.
As part of the scheme, it was alleged that Menard showed investors a fake ATM receipt that reflected a bank account balance of over $8 million, and a fake trading screen showing a net account value of over $1 million. Based on these false statements, the investors thought they were earning significant profits and kept investing. The Attorney General’s investigation found that in reality, the highest net value of Menard’s trading account between July 2021 and October 2022 was $240,000, and the highest balance of his bank account was $301,000.
“Marc Henry Menard took advantage of Haitian New Yorkers, lied to them about his experience as a successful trader, and swindled hard-working people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said James. “Menard treated himself to luxury vacations and shopping trips at his victims’ expense, and now we are bringing him to justice.”
Neither Menard nor his attorney could be reached for comment prior to publication.
Menard was released with weekly reporting and was required to surrender his passport and not travel outside New York and Florida. If convicted of the top count charged, Menard faces a maximum sentence of up to five to 15 years in prison.
The attorneys at Hyman Cotter PC have decades of experience dealing with securities fraud cases and have a deep understanding of how capital markets and financial service firms are intended to work to protect investors. 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.
