Glen Cove crew, Brooklyn man charged in $8.4M boiler room scheme

The U.S. attorney's office has charged four people from Long Island and a Brooklyn man in an $8.4 million "boiler room" and money laundering scheme.

News 12 Staff

Feb 9, 2022, 4:07 PM

Updated 966 days ago

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Glen Cove crew, Brooklyn man charged in $8.4M boiler room scheme
The U.S. attorney's office has charged four people from Long Island and a Brooklyn man in an $8.4 million "boiler room" and money laundering scheme.
Robert Lenard Booth, Michael D'urso, Alyssa D'urso, Jay Garnock and Antonella Chiaramonte are each charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and operate unlicensed money transmitting businesses, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Michael D'urso, Alyssa D'urso, Garnock and Chiaramonte are also charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Booth is from Brooklyn. The other four suspects are all from Glen Cove.
The U.S. attorney says the group ran a mass-marketing investment fraud scheme. Booth allegedly ran a boiler room operation in Thailand claiming to be a Manhattan investment firm. The group then allegedly used fake identities, webpages, email addresses and phone numbers to support the scheme.
The U.S. attorney says the scheme stole more than $1 million from investors believing they were buying securities in privately held and publicly traded American companies. The indictment goes on to say the Glen Cove-based suspects ran shell companies that worked with boiler rooms such as Booth's to receive, launder and distribute "stolen investment funds." The indictment alleges the D'urso crew took in $8.4 million in total, with $4.6 million laundered and sent overseas.
“Hiding behind fake investment firms and a network of shell companies, these defendants preyed on victims around the world and cheated them of their hard-earned savings," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.