Jason Keryc, former broker at Agape World Inc., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley, to nine years in prison and penalty of $179 million as restitution over a Ponzi scheme veiled as a legit investment for loans. Agape World's scheme defrauded around 3,800 investors of more than $150 million.
In April 2015, Keryc and another Agape World employee, Diane Kaylor, were found guilty of several fraud charges including securities fraud, conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud, Reuters reported. Prosecutors said the two were included in a Ponzi scheme from the company founded by Nicholas Cosmo in 2000. The scheme ran from October 2005 to January 2009, the newswire noted.
Cosmo, owner of Agape World and Agape Merchant Advance, was arrested in January 2009, Bloomberg News reported. The company received investor funds for offering short-term bridge loans. However, of the $413 million that came from investors, only about $30 million in loans were made. Actual losses to investors reached $195 million.
Cosmo himself pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud and wire fraud in 2010, The Inquistr reported. He is currently serving his 25-year sentence at the Fort Dix correctional facility in New Jersey.
Keryc and Kaylor were the only defendants on the said Ponzi scheme who went to trial. The other seven who were charged, including Cosmo, all pleaded guilty. Kaylor is scheduled to be sentenced on April 8, Reuters noted.
Federal sentencing guidelines for fraud cases such as that of Keryc's ranged from 30 years to life sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Cafaro was the one who pushed for a term of 25 years, The Inquistr noted. Keryc already served 10 months in East Meadow's Nassau County Jail before the sentence.
Reports said Keryc admitted making "a terrible mistake" pertaining to the fraud scheme. He said that the scheme at Agape World "was nothing short of a tragedy," during pleading for sentence leniency.
