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Authorities arrested a Florida man for allegedly swindling over $600,000 from 11 investors, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James.
James claimed Marc Henry Menard’s three-year securities fraud scheme targeted investors from Haitian communities in New York, Florida and Georgia. Menard was arrested in Sunrise, Fla. this week and indicted on 24 counts, including grand larceny and securities fraud.
“Menard treated himself to luxury vacations and shopping trips at his victims’ expense, and now we are bringing him to justice,” James said.
According to James, starting in July 2020, Menard began soliciting Haitians in Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland and Queens counties in New York, as well as in Florida and Georgia. Menard touted monthly returns between 12% and 20%, and although he wasn’t registered to sell securities, he told investors he was an experienced trader in stocks and crypto.
After soliciting investors, Menard allegedly placed some of their funds into his own personal trading accounts, which he’d use for risky trading options, including day trading and options trading, which lost him over $670,000 between July 2021 and October 2022.
According to James, Menard also spent hundreds of thousands of victims’ funds to repay previous investors, over $100,000 on trips to Turkey, Puerto Rico and Disney World, a 2021 Mercedes-Benz, a 2022 BMW, and purchases at Louis Vuitton and Gucci.
To satisfy investors’ questions, Menard allegedly concocted an ATM receipt showing an $8 million account balance and a fake trading screen showing net account values over $1 million.
But the Attorney General’s office found that between July 2021 and October 2022, Mernard’s highest net value in the trading account was $240,000, while the bank account balance only reached $301,000.
Neither Menard nor counsel representing him could be reached for comment prior to publication.
Menard was released with weekly reporting requirements, was ordered to surrender his passport and is not allowed to travel outside of New York and Florida pending trial. If he’s convicted of the top charges, Menard could face as much as 15 years in prison.
Last June, the Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Menard, alleging he’d defrauded at least 50 individuals (mainly in the Haitian community) of at least $1.65 million.
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