Carlo Chiaese, a Westfield, N.J. investment advisor, was arrested yesterday for allegedly defrauding a New York City pension fund and other investors out of $2.4 million.
The Springfield, N.J. resident surrendered Oct. 5 in Newark to federal authorities in connection to charges that he used a “vast majority of the money” to “fund his lavish lifestyle and “repay different investors in Ponzi-scheme fashion,” the
During the period between November 2008 and September 2010, Chiaese solicited investments through his firm CGC Advisors. The unnamed union pension fund, which has about 850 members, invested approximately $1.71 million with Chiaese. Other individuals rounded out the rest of the investments, which were to be allocated to “traditional securities.”
Furthermore, authorities charge that he used approximately $1.4 million to pay for his personal gifts, with $180,000 allocated to repay back other investors. Other withdrawals also went to his wife and her family.
On Sept. 18, the complaint explained that in a conversation with two close friends, he admitted that “he had misappropriated investor money for his personal benefit,” and that he “never invested any of the pension fund money.”
He was scheduled to appear Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo for an initial appearance and bail hearing.
“When Carlo Chiaese claimed to be making secure investments, he was really securing his own access to pricey diversions and ready cash,” U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul Fishman said in the Oct. 5 announcement. “Although we see far too many of these schemes, we cannot be desensitized to them.”
