Boynton Beach’s Allen Weintraub, 48, was yesterday sentenced by U.S. District Judge Donald Graham to 111 months in prison for orchestrating a massive Facebook stock fraud scheme that bilked investors out of $414,000.
According to United States Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer and FBI Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro, Weintraub, using an alias, lured potential investors through Quora.com into believing he had access to pre-IPO Facebook stock. He directed them to Private Stock Transfer, Inc., falsely representing the company as a legitimate source of the sought-after shares.
Weintraub’s deception continued, as he mailed fraudulent stock certificates for PST Investment III, Inc. shares that were supposed to convert into Facebook shares once the social media giant went public. However, neither Weintraub nor Private Stock Transfer held any actual Facebook shares.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lois Foster-Steers prosecuted the case, and FBI agents were commended for their investigative efforts. Weintraub was also ordered to forfeit $140,280.47 and pay the same amount in restitution to his victims.
This conviction serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of online investment fraud, especially when high-profile companies like Facebook are involved.
For more information on this case, visit the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida website at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls, or the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes|Cybercrime|White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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