Post by ukipa on May 13, 2014 18:13:33 GMT 4
Vatican passports, secret accounts? Feds says fraud.
Two Orange County men are facing fraud charges after authorities allege they scammed investors out of more than $3 million by falsely claiming they could provide a 100 percent return, untraceable accounts and passports issued by the Vatican.
James N. Kanavos and Richard Senna have been charged with wire fraud and aiding and abetting in connection with their work with the Euro Bank Trust Corp., according to a federal indictment released earlier this month.
Authorities say Kanavos, an Irvine resident, claimed to be the “chairman, chief executive officer, president, secretary, treasurer, sole director and ‘master trader’” of the Euro Bank Trust Corp., while Senna, a La Habra resident, allegedly acted as a broker and described himself as a senior bank officer with the company.
According to the indictment, Kanavos and Senna targeted wealthy investors in Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties between June 2009 and March 2014, and are suspected of defrauding investors out of at least $3.5 million.
To convince people to invest with the company, authorities allege, Kanavos and Senna made a variety of “false and deceptive” statements claiming that Euro Bank Trust Corp. owned 37 banks and a stake in all major banks worldwide, that investors would receive “black debit cards” allowing them to access their money anywhere in the world “in a manner that cannot be traced,” that investors would “receive passports issued by the Vatican and/or diplomatic passports good in 300 countries in the world” and that the company had “trillions of dollars in its Wells Fargo account.”
The investors were also falsely told that Euro Bank Trust Corp. had a 100 percent success rate since its inception, according to the indictment, and that there was no risk because each investor’s account was “100 percent insured by Lloyd’s of London.”
Prosecutors allege that Kanavos and Senna used the investors’ funds for their own personal use while keeping the investors in the dark about a pending federal criminal investigation into the Euro Bank Trust Corp.
Senna and Kanavos have pleaded not guilty to the charges, court records show. A jury trial is scheduled to begin in early July.
Two Orange County men are facing fraud charges after authorities allege they scammed investors out of more than $3 million by falsely claiming they could provide a 100 percent return, untraceable accounts and passports issued by the Vatican.
James N. Kanavos and Richard Senna have been charged with wire fraud and aiding and abetting in connection with their work with the Euro Bank Trust Corp., according to a federal indictment released earlier this month.
Authorities say Kanavos, an Irvine resident, claimed to be the “chairman, chief executive officer, president, secretary, treasurer, sole director and ‘master trader’” of the Euro Bank Trust Corp., while Senna, a La Habra resident, allegedly acted as a broker and described himself as a senior bank officer with the company.
According to the indictment, Kanavos and Senna targeted wealthy investors in Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties between June 2009 and March 2014, and are suspected of defrauding investors out of at least $3.5 million.
To convince people to invest with the company, authorities allege, Kanavos and Senna made a variety of “false and deceptive” statements claiming that Euro Bank Trust Corp. owned 37 banks and a stake in all major banks worldwide, that investors would receive “black debit cards” allowing them to access their money anywhere in the world “in a manner that cannot be traced,” that investors would “receive passports issued by the Vatican and/or diplomatic passports good in 300 countries in the world” and that the company had “trillions of dollars in its Wells Fargo account.”
The investors were also falsely told that Euro Bank Trust Corp. had a 100 percent success rate since its inception, according to the indictment, and that there was no risk because each investor’s account was “100 percent insured by Lloyd’s of London.”
Prosecutors allege that Kanavos and Senna used the investors’ funds for their own personal use while keeping the investors in the dark about a pending federal criminal investigation into the Euro Bank Trust Corp.
Senna and Kanavos have pleaded not guilty to the charges, court records show. A jury trial is scheduled to begin in early July.
