A Long Island City resident, who pleaded guilty on several charges relating to swindling thirty people out of their money in a Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to an indeterminate three to nine years in prison this week.
According to the Queens District Attorney’s Office, Ibis Febles, 66, orchestrated an operation that offered above-market returns by pretending to invest victims’ money in a corporation that that bought and sold real estate. A press release from the office states that the Latino community was specifically targeted in the exploitation.
Another defendant in the case, Giancarlo Giuseppe, 69, is still at large.
Between September 2003 and October 2008, Giuseppe and Febles deceivingly acted as the President and Vice President of a company called Buyersnet Real Estate Corporation with offices in Jackson Heights and Long Island City, according to court documents.
The court documents also allege that victims gave the accused various amounts of monthly payments that Giuseepe and Febles were supposed to use to purchase, renovate, or sell real estate. Unsuspecting investors were promised ten to fourteen percent returns, a value well above that paid by reputable financial institutions.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, no money was ever invested in real estate and the scheme collapsed in 2008 when the defendants were no longer able to take new investor’s money to pay dividends to those wanting to collect their investments.
Individuals suffered losses ranging from approximately $5,000 to as much as $50,000. Court documents reveal Guiseppe and Febles defrauded an estimated total of $1.365 million.
“Many of the victims of this scheme lost their entire life savings. I would therefore let this case serve as a warning to all investors to use extreme caution when promised a guaranteed, above market return of between ten and fourteen percent. Such high rates of return should immediately cause investors to raise an alarm,” said District Attorney Richard Brown.
