Related Federal Cases
$5M Environmental Product Scam Busted
Theodore Sweeten, president of Symtech International, Inc., has been sentenced to 48 months in prison for his role in a $5 million environmental product scam.
Sweeten, 48, was ordered to forfeit $600,000 to the government and pay $5,001,949 in restitution to the defrauded investor, according to a federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
Sweeten pleaded guilty in June 2013 to a charge of wire fraud for defrauding an individual investor of $5 million through false representations about his investment and environmental expertise.
‘Theodore Sweeten conned an unsuspecting investor of $5 million by claiming to have expertise in environmental and financial products, when in reality, his only expertise was in fraud,’ said Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Sweeten, who claimed he developed and patented the ‘Clean Air Valve’ among other environmental products, defrauded the investor by lying to him about his expertise in their joint venture agreement.
The scheme involved Sweeten and his co-conspirators convincing the victim to invest $5 million in order to ‘lease’ a credit line of $100 million, which would enable them to generate millions of dollars in profit through special investment programs.
However, instead of investing the money, Sweeten and his co-conspirators distributed the funds among themselves and sent the victim fabricated bank documents on HSBC letterhead to convince him that a $100 million account had been created.
The victim eventually discovered the scam and confronted Sweeten, who lied to him repeatedly, claiming that the money had been invested in other projects, including a gold mine project.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Winston M. Paes and Marcia M. Henry, as part of efforts by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: White Collar Crime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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