Cesar Pina, a longtime enterprise affiliate of radio persona and host DJ Envy, was arrested on one rely of wire fraud final week for his alleged involvement in a multi-million greenback funding fraud scheme.
Pina, 45, allegedly lured quite a few people into entrusting him with thousands and thousands of {dollars} to purchase and spend money on residential actual property. Nevertheless, as an alternative of sharing the income, he defrauded his traders via a Ponzi-like scheme, in response to legislation enforcement.
Starting in 2017, Pina allegedly started accepting investments from victims, purportedly for the acquisition, renovation and sale of particular actual property initiatives in New Jersey and different states, promising a return on funding starting from 20-45% inside 5 months. As a substitute, Pina used the brand new investments to repay the earlier ones, and diverted the victims’ funds for “private bills.” Pina’s fraudulent actions resulted within the lack of “thousands and thousands of {dollars}.”
“Plain and easy, the defendant ran a fraudulent scheme,” stated Tammy Tomlins, particular agent accountable for the IRS’s Newark Prison Investigations Subject Workplace. “They misrepresented the character of their enterprise and lied concerning the potential return on funding so as to extort thousands and thousands of unsuspecting victims.”
DJ Envy (left) and Cesar Piña (proper) attend the Brandon Medford Gross sales Academy Launch Occasion on October 4, 2022 in New York Metropolis. Johnny Nunez | Getty Pictures.
Since his arrest, Cesar Pina has been launched on $1 million bail, however is prohibited from leaving New Jersey. If convicted of the fraud cost, he may withstand 20 years in jail and important fines of as much as $250,000.
Is DJ Envy concerned in a Ponzi scheme?
In response to the lawsuit, Pina established credibility by conducting actual property seminars with a “movie star disc jockey and radio persona” earlier than launching the alleged scheme. By means of seminars, “self-promotional efforts” and advertising, Pina gained a big following on social media, in response to the paperwork.
DJ Envy is not listed as a “persona” talked about within the paperwork, however has usually promoted Pina’s funding venture on the “Breakfast Membership” podcast (which he co-hosts), claiming they’ve “helped so many individuals,” Vulture reported.
DJ Envy denied any information or involvement in “Breakfast Membership,” including that he had been suggested by his attorneys to not touch upon the matter, however felt compelled to “clear the air a bit bit.”
“Cesar and I did seminars, and the explanation I did these seminars was as a result of I wished to uplift my group, I wished to show my group about actual property,” Envy stated, including that he has introduced numerous specialists to such seminars. “Now Cesar, if he took the cash, I used to be not aware about it, nor did I do know.”
Envy additionally claimed he gave cash to Pina, for which he “did not see a greenback returned.”