Compliance
Compliance Corner: Robert Shapiro
The latest compliance news: regulatory developments, punishments, guidance, permissions and new product and service offerings.
The mastermind of a $1.3 billion real estate Ponzi scheme has
been sentenced to a 25-year prison sentence by a US federal
court, media reports said.
The scam was carried out by Robert Shapiro, who in August this
year pleaded guilty to the fraud. The scam was perpetrated via
Shapiro’s now-defunct Sherman Oaks-based investment firm,
Woodbridge Group of Companies.
More than 7,000 property investors were defrauded over five years
until Woodbridge went bust in late 2017.
Most of the prison sentence, some 20 years, applies for the fraud
and committing wire and mail fraud. Reports said that Shapiro,
61, was also sentenced to an additional five years for failing to
pay $6.0 million in taxes owed between 2000 and 2005.
Shapiro had promised investors that the cash would be used to
build and buy luxury properties that would generate high returns.
However, Shapiro and his Woodbridge company bought those
properties themselves, and used various legal entities to conceal
the scam.
