Dane Roseman and Ivan Acevedo pleaded guilty to $1.3B fraud scam
MIAMI — Two more California men have pleaded guilty in South Florida for their roles in a $1.3 billion real estate fraud scheme that stole money from thousands of investors nationwide.
Dane Roseman, 38, and Ivan Acevedo, 44, both of Los Angeles,
pleaded guilty Monday in Miami federal court to participating in a massive investment
fraud scheme, in which more than 7,000 victims suffered financial losses,
according to court records. Co-defendant Robert Shapiro was previously
sentenced to 25 years in prison for orchestrating the scheme. Roseman and
Acevedo are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 20.
Shapiro was the former owner, president and CEO of
Woodbridge Group of Companies LLC. The company had offices employing 130 people
in California, Florida, Tennessee, Colorado and Connecticut. Prosecutors say
Shapiro told investors that Woodbridge held real estate loans that would pay
them rates of interest between 5% and 10%. In fact, the real estate also was
owned by Shapiro through 270 shell companies and did not generate the necessary
money for investors. Sometimes, the properties didn’t even exist.
It became a Ponzi scheme that paid older investors with
money from newer ones, court records show. Five states entered cease-and-desist
orders because Woodbridge was selling unregistered securities.
Roseman and Acevedo both worked as sales managers for
Woodbridge, officials said. They sold securities and trained and supervised
Woodbridge internal sales agents who sold Woodbridge securities. Using
high-pressure sales tactics, Shapiro, Roseman, Acevedo and others marketed and
promoted these investments as low-risk, safe, simple and conservative.
Authorities say the scam operated from at least July 2012 to
December 2017, when the company filed for bankruptcy and defaulted on its
obligations to investors.
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