Postal inspectors busted the latest giant Ponzi, a New Jersey racketeer who called himself NJ Flipper.
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Cesar Pina provided services for narcotics traffickers, bribed a government official, and defrauded unsuspecting investors out of millions of dollars, all for personal gain.
Under the guise of being an entrepreneur with his clients’ best interests at heart, Cesar Pina allegedly defrauded dozens of investors of millions of dollars. His actions didn’t stop at fraud but involved bribery, money laundering, and conspiring to launder illicit funds from the sale of drugs.
Cesar Pina solicited dozens of individuals to provide him with millions of dollars to purchase and invest in residential properties. However, instead of sharing the profits, he defrauded his investors in a Ponzi scheme.
Pina partnered with a celebrity disc jockey and radio personality to conduct real estate seminars around the country. Through these seminars, self-promotional efforts, and other marketing strategies, Pina developed a significant social media following. He began accepting investments from individual investors for the purchase, remodel, and sale of specific real estate properties in New Jersey and other states. To induce investors, Pina often promised 30% or higher returns on investments within 4 to 5 months. But instead of using investors’ funds as promised, Pina commingled and misappropriated investors’ money, including by using new investor funds to pay off prior investors in a Ponzi-like scheme and spending investor funds on unauthorized business and personal expenditures.
Pina also conspired to launder illicit funds, including from the sale of controlled substances, for various individuals he knew were engaged in criminal activities. Pina further laundered money that an individual acting at the direction of law enforcement represented was drug proceeds as part of a sting operation.
In addition, Pina bribed a local official of Paterson, New Jersey in connection with real estate-related projects in Paterson. For example, Pina provided cash and other bribes to the official in exchange for official action, assistance, and influence in connection with Pina’s “Old School 5” development project, which had pending applications before the Paterson Zoning Board of Adjustment.
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Renaissance Man of Fraud! The flipping part resembles an earlier case highlighted by the postal inspectors. Gareth West wasn’t doing a Ponzi, he was doing a Spanish Prisoner racket victimizing older folks by posing as relatives in trouble. He also covered his activities and laundered the money by pretending to flip properties. But West wasn’t nearly as diversified as Pina.
Polistra's Mill 