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PEMBROKE PARK, FLORIDA – A South Florida woman and two other men are accused of forcing retired retirees to invest thousands of dollars in a fake fish farm.
Matthew Braun, Michael Creamer and Rebeca Gonzalez face charges of organized fraud, sale of non-registered securities, sale of securities by an unregistered person and securities fraud.
Braun, 36, and Gonzalez, 43, both of Boca Raton, were arrested in Palm Beach County late last month. Creamer, 48, from Largo, was arrested on Monday. All three have since been released from prison on bail.
According to a press release from Statewide Prosecution's office, the trio attacked seniors in Broward, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties, deceiving at least five people to invest more than $ 400,000 in a fake farm called Blue Ocean Farm.
"These accused are accused of targeting the elderly and trying to steal their hard-earned retirement money with false promises of big profits," said Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a statement. communicated. "Anyone trying to defraud older people in Florida deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
According to an affidavit of arrest, Gonzalez and Braun contacted Carmine Della Rocca, 84, of Tamarac, in 2013, and applied for two investment checks totaling $ 110,000.
Della Rocca, believing that Gonzalez was working for a securities investment company, pledged to invest $ 100,000 in Blue Ocean Farm and then gave an additional $ 10,000 in exchange for $ 40,000. a higher rate of interest on its capital.
Della Rocca told investigators that Gonzalez told him that his investment "would give a guaranteed return". But Della Rocca has never received repayment of principal or interest on her investment.
The investigators stated that they had determined that Braun, Creamer and Gonzalez had defrauded investors by using fake promissory notes such as the one signed by Della Rocca.
"In addition, your depositors have found no evidence that Blue Ocean Farm LLC owns and operates fish farms or is even a legitimate business," the affidavit said.
Instead, according to the investigators, Blue Ocean Farm was a "screen company created for the sole purpose of defrauding investors / potential victims."
In addition to Della Rocca, the suspects also allegedly cheated a 70-year-old man in Lake Worth, an 84-year-old woman in Boynton Beach, an 84-year-old woman in Boca Raton, and a Sunrise woman whose family was pursuing Blue Ocean Farm for investments made before his death in 2015.
Braun, Creamer and Gonzalez incur up to 70 years in prison when they are found guilty.
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