A Boca Raton couple who ran a $50 million investment fraud scheme from behind bars will spend the next 20 years in federal prison, prosecutors said. (WPEC)
BOCA RATON, Fla. (CBS12) —A Boca Raton couple who ran a $50 million investment fraud scheme from behind bars will spend years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
55-year-old Jean Joseph, also known as “Jon,” was sentenced to 240 months in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
His wife and accomplice, 44-year-old Janalie Camille Bingham, also known as Janalie Camille Joseph, was sentenced to 48 months for her role in the scheme.
Joseph and Bingham operated the West Palm Beach-based Wells Real Estate Investment LLC, which they formed around 2017 and presented to investors as a real estate acquisition and development company.
Prosecutors said the couple raised more than $50 million from hundreds of investors by selling promissory notes they claimed were backed by a real estate portfolio worth as much as $450 million.
But investigators said the couple did not own enough real estate to secure the investments, and only a small portion of the money was actually used for real estate.
Instead, Joseph diverted about $28 million into speculative stock trading, prosecutors said. He also used investor money for personal expenses.
The couple also used more than $8 million from newer investors to make payments to earlier investors in what prosecutors described as a Ponzi-style scheme.
More than $2 million was spent on personal expenses, including a down payment on a nearly $2 million home that the couple used as their primary residence.
Joseph’s role in the company was also concealed after he was convicted of an unrelated federal wire fraud case and began serving a prison sentence in June 2020.
Despite being behind bars, prosecutors said Joseph continued directing transactions and other aspects of the investment scheme.
“Jean Joseph was already serving a federal prison sentence for wire fraud when he continued directing another massive investment scheme from behind bars,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said.
The sentence, he said, holds Joseph accountable for repeatedly abusing the trust of investors.
A restitution hearing is scheduled for September 4.
