PHILADELPHIA – First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer
Arbittier Williams announced today that a Philadelphia investment adviser who
bilked clients out of $1.6 million has pled guilty.
Carl Frederic Sealey, 43, chairman of Global Standard
Industries Inc. (GSI) and SEK Industries Inc., pled guilty to fraud charges
this week in connection with a scheme in which Sealey used his investors’ money
to fund his own lavish lifestyle instead of using it to finance real estate
deals.
Sealey claimed his company had more than $15 billion in
managed domestic assets and another $33 billion offshore. Investors were led to
believe that their investment was risk-free and that they would receive their
monies back with interest within 90 days. Sealey would then represent to
investors that their “deal” had been delayed and that they could get their
money back more quickly if they invested additional monies for other “deals”
that GSI had underway.
In reality, there were never any real estate closings or
business takeovers underway by anyone at GSI. When investors wired monies to
accounts exclusively maintained by Sealey, he used a fraction of the monies to
pay rent for GSI’s Philadelphia and New York offices and the salaries of GSI
staff members, most of whom were retained from a temporary employment agency.
Sealey used the majority of the monies received from investors to support his
extravagant lifestyle, including hotel accommodations, restaurants, spa services,
retail shopping, and other personal expenditures.
“Individuals trust investment advisors with their life
savings and thus their families’ economic well-being,” said First Assistant
U.S. Attorney Williams. “The defendant blatantly betrayed that trust by making
empty promises to investors with the ultimate goal of stealing their money and
enriching himself.”
The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. It is being prosecuted by
Assistant United States Attorney Anita Eve.
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