Steven Pagartanis, 60, was sentenced Thursday by U.S District Judge Joan Azrack to 170 months in jail and was also ordered to pay more than $6.5 million in restitution.
A former Long Island investment adviser who preyed upon elderly victims was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme.
Steven Pagartanis, 60, was sentenced Thursday by U.S District Judge Joan Azrack to 170 months in jail and was also ordered to pay more than $6.5 million in restitution.
According to the government, from 2000 to 2018 Pagartanis solicited victims, almost all of whom were elderly women, to invest in two publicly traded companies, promising an 8 percent return.
"Pagartanis then laundered the victims’ investments through a series of bank accounts, and used the money to pay personal expenses, purchase luxury items, fund failed business ventures including his wife’s pet store and make the guaranteed 'interest' or 'dividend' payments to other victims,"
the government said, adding that the defendant’s victims invested more than $13 million and sustained losses of more than $9 million.
The government added that many lost substantial amounts of their life savings, including funds set aside to help ill family members, pay college expenses and maintain their homes.
"Today’s sentence is a well-deserved reckoning for Pagartanis, who preyed on elderly investors, many of whom trusted him with their life savings, for nearly two decades,"
said U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue, in a statement.
Pagartanis had pleaded guilty to the charges in December 2018 and was facing up to 20 years in prison.
Newsday reported that many victims attended Thursday's sentencing, including one man who said his mother lost her life savings — $70,000 — in the scheme.
Other victims lost much more money, with Newsday reporting that one woman lost $2.3 million of $3.79 million invested; another lost almost all of the $3 million she invested; and a third lost all of $865,000 invested with Pagartanis.
“Steven Pagartanis deceived investors from New York to California with the selfish goal of enriching himself at the expense of innocent elderly victims,”
said Jonathan Larsen, special agent-in-charge, Internal Revenue Service-criminal investigation, in the government statement.
By Ben Miller – Contributing Writer, New York Business Journal
Jan 10, 2020, 10:27am EST Source Link
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