NEW YORK , Ny. — A New Jersey trucking company owner has been arrested charged with defrauding at least 20 different victims out of an approximate total of $5 million dollars in what federal authorities are say was a Ponzi scheme.
According to charges filed by U.S Attorney Southern District of New York, Arsen Lusher,49, of Millstone, New Jersey, is charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison.
“For four years, Arsen Lusher allegedly defrauded numerous victims of more than $5 million by cycling their investments to conceal the business’s inability to produce its promised returns, and altered official tax documents to reflect inflated balances in furtherance of this ploy,” said FBI Assistant Director James E. Dennehy. “The alleged empty assurances allowed the defendant to wrongfully haul in funding from investors and selfishly benefit from their losses. The FBI will continue to disrupt and hit the brakes on any investment scheme rooted in deceit.”
Authorities say that Lusher and a small group of trusted lieutenants acting at Lusher’s direction solicited investments from the victims, usually by representing that there was a profitable trucking business that enjoyed delivery and installation contracts with multiple large retailers.
According to the criminal complaint which was unsealed late last week, Lusher and his lieutenants typically represented that the victims’ investments would fund the purchase of trucks, each truck costing around $45,000. Victims were normally guaranteed through written and signed investment agreements, that their investments would generate high rates of return over a fixed period—typically between 30 and 40 percent over one or two years. In that way, Lusher succeeded in raising more than $40 million.
In fact, Lusher did not have a large trucking business. Instead, he had a small trucking business that performed a small amount of work—less than $300,000—for just one large retailer, according to federal authorities.
Funds were used to purchase trucks or to grow his trucking business. Instead, for years, Lusher allegedly engaged in what federal authorities called a Ponzi scheme: Lusher allegedly paid earlier victims with later victims’ funds. Lusher also allegedly used the victims’ funds to enrich himself, such as by gambling or shopping for high-end goods. In that way, he was able to sustain his scheme for a number of years. But in early 2021, the scheme collapsed, leaving numerous victims with losses totaling more than $5 million.
Federal authorities say Lusher used fake documents to carry out his scheme. For example, in December 2020, Lusher alleged filed a falsified tax return. The accountant listed as having prepared the return did not, in fact, prepare it. Another example cited by federal court documents cites an incident in February 2021, where Lusher allegedly altered account balances on an email sent by a bank employee to make it appear that companies “had healthy account balances when, in fact, they did not,” according to the complaint.
Specifically, Lusher allegedly altered the bank balances. While the bank employee wrote that Lusher’s companies had account balances of $8,767.26 and $320.76, Lusher allegedly altered the bank employee’s email before forwarding it to state that his companies had account balances of $1,228,767.26 and $987,320.76 (italics and bold added). In other words, Lusher allegedly altered the bank employee’s email such that the account balances for his companies were approximately 140 times and 3,078 times greater than they actually were. Lusher then caused that falsified email to be sent to a particular victim.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is proud to have played an important role in this investigation that resulted in the takedown of an elaborate conspiracy to defraud the United States, said CBP Director Francis J. Russo. ”This case serves as a great example of how collaborative law enforcement efforts can dismantle nefarious enterprises that cause economic harm to their competitors.”
Bruce Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has lived in three states including Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia. During his nearly 20-year career, Bruce has served as managing editor and sports editor for numerous publications. He and his wife, Dana, who is also a journalist, are based in Carrollton, Georgia.
This guy must have worked in the federal government. He has the qualifications for being a swamp dweller.