WESTON, Fla. – Federal prosecutors have charged a Weston couple with conspiring to commit wire fraud after authorities accused them of funneling more than $6 million into a Ponzi scheme.
Fifty-six-year-old David Varrone and his wife, Sherry, ran a company called The Credit Engineers Inc. and used it to run “an elaborate credit ‘leasing’ and investment Ponzi scheme,” prosecutors said.
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According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the couple “offered individuals with good credit a short-term ‘Credit Leasing’ investment program tied to a purported hedge fund that would yield a guaranteed return on investments plus fully repay the loans within 36 months or less.”
“The Varrones and their co-conspirators helped victims apply for the high interest, short term loans and the victims ‘leased’ the proceeds to The Credit Engineers and David Varrone,” prosecutors said. “However, there was no hedge fund and victims’ funds never were invested.”
Instead, prosecutors accuse the Varrones of using the funds to enrich themselves and pay back earlier victims—the definition of a Ponzi scheme.
The Varrones funneled a total of $6.4 million to themselves through the scheme, prosecutors said.
David Varrone is also accused of fraudulently applying for $650,000 in CARES Act loans meant to help small businesses stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
David Varrone faces up to 30 years behind bars, while Sherry Varrone faces up to five years in prison if convicted.