Parkland Man Gets 7 Years in Prison For Bilking Elderly Investors

Isaac Grossman

By Kevin Deutsch

A Parkland man who conned elderly investors out of millions of dollars was sentenced Thursday to 87 months in federal prison, according to the Department of Justice.

Isaac Grossman, 47, of Heron Bay, directed an elder fraud scheme in which he sold stock in his South Florida-based technology company to senior citizens across the U.S., then misappropriated their money for his own personal use, federal prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal sentenced Grossman in Fort Lauderdale federal court after Grossman had previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering charges. Grossman had faced up to 50 years in prison for his crimes.

He was also ordered to pay nearly $3 million in restitution, court records show.

Grossman will be credited with about seven months served and must surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons no later than April 8, according to the records.

From September 2014 through April 2018, Grossman raised around $2.4 million in investor funds for his company, Dragon-Click Corp., by soliciting investments from elderly retirees across the country, prosecutors said.

Grossman’s pitch to investors: Dragon-Click was developing a revolutionary internet application, and they had a chance to get in on the ground floor. He told them the new shopping app would allow users to post a photo of any item they might want to purchase, immediately recognize all retailers who sell the item, and provide price comparisons and links to buy.

Grossman admitted he falsely told investors they would double, triple, or quadruple their money. According to DOJ, he even claimed Dragon-Click was on the verge of being sold to a large technology company like Google, Apple, or Amazon for over $1 billion.

Before raising funds for Dragon-Click, he concealed from investors that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority had permanently barred him from acting as a broker or associating with brokerage firms.

He also hid the fact he had been permanently banned from commodities trading by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

With investors’ money in hand, Grossman spent $1.3 million of his fraudulent gains on gambling, diamond jewelry, luxury cars, home mortgage payments, tuition payments for his children’s private school education, and other personal expenditures, including a McLaren MP4-12C, a Chevrolet Corvette and a 4.81-carat diamond ring, prosecutors said.

In addition to his criminal case, the government also filed a parallel civil enforcement action against Grossman.

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Parkland Man Gets 7 Years in Prison For Bilking Elderly Investors 

 

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Parkland Man Arrested for Bilking Elderly in Money Laundering Scheme

Parkland Man Arrested for Bilking Elderly in Money Laundering Scheme

Isaac Grossman

By: Saraana Jamraj

A Parkland man has been arrested and accused of orchestrating a sizeable money-laundering scheme that involved defrauding elderly victims with promises of quadrupling their money.

In a joint effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Security and Exchange Committee, and the U.S. Attorney’s office, Heron Bay resident, Isaac Grossman, 45, was investigated and indicted on the charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering.

Grossman ran a company called Dragon-Click Corp, a South Florida-based technology company, which he allegedly used to target the elderly to pull off an array of financial crimes.

According to the indictment by U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office,  Grossman spent at least $1.3 million of investors’ money on gambling, diamond jewelry, luxury cars, tuition payments for his children’s private education, and other personal expenditures.

Some of the larger purchases made include $35,000 of investors’ funds on a 4.81-carat diamond ring, $21,200 for a lease payment on a McLaren MP4-12C, $36,500 to purchase a Chevrolet Corvette, and $34,500 to partially pay off his home mortgage.

In the alleged scheme, Grossman sought elderly retired investors across the country to invest in his business. To attract potential investors, he told them about a revolutionary new shopping app that would allow users to post a photo of any item they might want to purchase, and immediately recognize all retailers who also sell the item, as well as provide price comparisons and links to purchase.

The product he described bares some similarity to Google Lens, an existing app that can contextualize photos users submit, providing them with identification information about it.

To further solicit them, Grossman allegedly told investors that his company would be sold to larger corporations, such as Google, Apple, or Amazon, for more than one billion dollars and that their money could even be quadrupled. 

From September 2014 to April 2018, with at least 26 investors, Grossman was able to raise approximately $2.4 million.

Isaac and his wife, Adriana Grossman.

Instead of using the money for an internet application, patent, legal fees to close that supposed billion dollar sale, or any other legitimate business purposes, Grossman allegedly used that money to provide and maintain a lavish, luxurious lifestyle for him and his wife, Adriana.

This was not Grossman’s first brush with the law.  After entering the financial securities sector in 1997, he faced regulatory reprimand and consequences in 2012.

In addition to misusing investors’ money, Grossman also fraudulently concealed this fact from investors that he was permanently banned from acting as a broker by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and banned from trading the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He also owed them over $121,000 fines.

Grossman and his wife were also hit with a civil lawsuit by the SEC in June of 2018, where their financial crimes were further detailed, including an alleged $426,000 of investors’ funds used solely on gambling. Adriana was alleged to have spent at least $293,000 of investors’ money between 2014 and 2016.  Their LLC, Dragon Management, was organized by her, and she was listed as the sole signor, likely so they could do business under her name.

Isaac Grossman was arrested on October 11 and faces a minimum of 20 years for each fraud charge, and 10 years for each money laundering charge.

Full Article & Source:
Parkland Man Arrested for Bilking Elderly in Money Laundering Scheme