A 62-year-old Hummer-driving Long Island fund manager was charged Monday with running a Ponzi scheme for nine years — siphoning $17 million from his clients.
James M. Peister ripped off at least 74 investors and used the purloined purse to buy a fancy estate in the tony hamlet of St. James and the gas-guzzling SUV, federal prosecutors said.
Peister — charged with mail, wire and securities fraud — pleaded not guilty Monday at his arraignment in a Suffolk County federal court.
Peister’s Globex fund promised to invest in a mix of securities but instead used the cash to pay off earlier investors and to fund a lavish lifestyles, it is charged.
Moreover, to keep his Ponzi scheme under wraps, the alleged fraudster issued phony statements to his investors and cooked the books on submissions to the fund’s auditor.
The result was a gross overstatement of fund assets — an audit for 2006 valued them at $14.8 million, whereas the indictment put their worth at $1.7 million.
Like the vast Ponzi scheme of Bernie Madoff, the Peister heist started unraveling during the financial 2008 crisis.
If convicted, Peister faces up to 20 years in prison.