Kari Sonovich, a 42-year-old woman from Meadow Vista, has been arrested and charged with mail fraud in connection with an investment fraud scheme that targeted investors in a failed Folsom Ponzi scheme.
According to court documents, Sonovich recruited investors to invest with her Las Vegas company, B&B Consulting Group LLC, between July 2008 and April 2009. She promised investors returns of up to 500 percent every 90 days, but kept some or all of the funds for herself.
The indictment alleges that Sonovich received more than $3 million from investors, and to date, no investor has received the promised returns or any of their initial investment back.
Sonovich’s scheme targeted investors who were already involved in an earlier investment fraud scheme run by Anthony Vassallo and Kenneth Kenitzer through their company Equity Investment Management & Trading (EIMT). Vassallo is serving a 16-year prison sentence for the scheme, and Kenitzer is scheduled to be sentenced on February 14, 2014.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jean M. Hobler is prosecuting the case.
if convicted, Sonovich faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to twice the losses resulting from the scheme. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Sonovich is scheduled to be arraigned today in federal court in Sacramento at 2:00 p.m.
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- Sara Jacqueline King, Investor Fraud, California 2023 · Florida
- Amadou Kane Diallo, Wire Fraud, California 2023 · Illinois
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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