$1.3M Alleged Fraud Under Investigation in New Jersey

An ongoing hot topic story in the state of New Jersey is the case of a certain individual from Middlesex County who used his position operating numerous online gambling companies to commit a huge financial scam against a number of investors...

...The complaint was filed last week in New Jersey Superior Court by the New Jersey Bureau of Securities and Attorney General, Gurbir S. Grewal.

Living in the Fake Fast Lane

According to sources, Sandy J. Masselli, Jr. of Old Bridge talked 26 investing companies into buying stock in his alleged online gambling companies, by reassuring them that the funds they invest into his joint venture called Carlyle Companies would be "used for proper corporate purposes."

Carlyle Companies consisted of Carlyle Gaming & Entertainment Ltd and Carlyle Entertainment, Ltd.

Masselli would then go on and use the money he acquired by these investors and spend it on a rather extravagant and lavish lifestyle for him and his wife, Charlene T. Masselli, aka Charlene Dunn. It is estimated that he defrauded more than $1.3 million and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on credit card payments, restaurants and hotels, auto leases, his son's college tuition...

...the $1.3 million was misused in various manners, such as paying at least $145.000 for Maselli's personal credit card bills, transfers of $500,000 to the Masselli USAA Account, checks totaling at least $7,700 payable to Masselli, payments totaling at least $25,649 to auto leasing companies, debit card purchases at restaurants, clothing stores etc. amounting to at least $68,000 etc...

The New Jersey Bureau of Securities now seeks restitution for the investors and further penalties for the accused Sandy J. Masselli, Jr. and the people involved.

Further Proceedings

Attorney General, Grewal, states that Masselli and his business associate, Joseph L. Picco, assumed a character of savvy businessmen with a "long and successful track record in online gambling industry." The long streak of frauds they committed began in July 2012 and ended in December 2017.

"Today’s allegations make clear that this was nothing more than a million-dollar fraud, and that Masselli used investors’ hard-earned money to finance his own extravagant lifestyle. The complaint filed by the Bureau of Securities is simply the latest step in our effort to protect New Jersey’s investors and crack down on financial fraudsters," comments Masselli.

Investors were assured that their funds would be used for investments in Carlyle Companies, but in reality, most of these funds were never transferred or spent for the benefit of these. They were actually deposited into various bank accounts belonging to Masselli.

Paul R. Rodriguez, Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs said: “This wasn’t a case where defendants diverted a small portion of investor funds for their own use, we allege that nearly every dime the defendants took in from investors was funneled into their own accounts and they helped themselves to the money as if it belonged to them. They, like other similarly situated defendants, will now pay the price for living the high life on the backs of defrauded investors.”

Source:

"New Jersey Bureau of Securities Takes Action Against Middlesex Man and His Companies for Allegedly Defrauding More than $1.3 Million from NJ Investors in his Online Gambling Companies", njconsumeraffairs.gov, August 28, 2018.