Great Neck resident pleads guilty to $65 million Ponzi lending scheme

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Daniel B. Brubaker, Inspector in Charge of the New York Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), announced that Jeffrey Soberman Parket, a former bond trader and the former principal of several hedge funds, pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to wire fraud and bank fraud.

Parket obtained over $65 million in loans from individual and institutional lenders by fabricating assets, doctoring bank and brokerage statements, and forging business correspondence and signatures, resulting in over $37 million in victim losses. Parket pled guilty before United States District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: "Parket traded on his reputation as a respected financier and fabricated paper assets to defraud lenders of millions of dollars in loans that they never would have made if not for his lies and the sophisticated ruses he used to support those lies. His scheme cost some of his victims everything they had. He will now be held accountable for his deceit."

USPIS Inspector in Charge Daniel B. Brubaker said: "Parket took advantage of his investors' trust, among them his friends and family members, and perpetrated an intricate scheme involving fraudulent documents and identity theft to hide his fraud from them. However, Postal Inspectors and our law enforcement partners unraveled Parket's web of deceit and exposed all his crimes. Parket's conviction today vindicates the investors he defrauded of almost $40 million. His conviction should also serve as a warning to would-be fraudsters: Postal Inspectors will dedicate every resource in our arsenal to protect the integrity of the mail and pursue anyone who betrays the public trust and preys on innocent investors."

As alleged in the Complaint and Information and based on other filings and statements made in court: From at least 2016 through December 2021, Parket fraudulently obtained over $65 million in shortterm loans from individuals and financial institutions by materially misrepresenting his financial condition and pledging fake collateral. Claiming that he needed shortterm liquidity for investment opportunities or real estate purchases, Parket constructed elaborate stories and submitted hundreds of pages of supporting documents to obtain loans he had no intention of repaying. Among other things, he falsified bank and brokerage statements and contracts allegedly reflecting his significant assets and ownership interests in valuable investment accounts. To furnish proof of some of these ownership interests, Parket also used the names, titles, and forged signatures of actual company executives he falsely claimed were his business associates. He created fake email addresses for them and forged lengthy email correspondence regarding measures supposedly taken by Parket and his purported business associates to secure the loans.

To perpetuate the scheme, Parket used loans from new lenders to pay back earlier lenders. He also made fraudulent representations about delayed acquisitions and temporary liquidity issues to induce his existing lenders to extend the maturity date of his loans or to provide him millions of dollars in additional loans.

Parket's individual victims included friends and professional acquaintances, some of whom he persuaded to provide him numerous loans. His institutional victims included short-term bridge lenders, a real estate services company, a bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and an insurance company focused on helping clients save for retirement.

Throughout the offense period, Parket also persuaded family members to transfer funds to his personal accounts by falsely promising to safely invest their life savings on their behalf. He then used the funds to pay down fraudulently obtained loans.

Parket, 59, of Great Neck, New York, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution and one count of bank fraud, each of which carries a maximum potential sentence of 30 years in prison.

The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge. Sentencing has been scheduled for June 28, 2023.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of USPIS. This case is being handled by the Office's General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Y. Chong is in charge of the prosecution. -Information from Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office of Southern District of New York