SEC Charges Incarcerated Man for Reviving Broadway Ticket Scam

Joseph Meli was charged with a crime he is already serving time for in prison.

The SEC has charged two cousins for engaging in a Broadway ticket investment scheme to defraud investors of $2.7 million, one of whom is already in prison serving time for an identical crime.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said Joseph Meli, 44, and James Siniscalchi, 46, were charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in connection with a Broadway ticket investment scam. The two, who are first cousins, allegedly told investors they would use their funds to purchase tickets to Broadway shows to resell on the secondary market, but instead took it for their  personal use.

While Siniscalchi was arrested for alleged role in the scam, Meli is presently incarcerated for his role in a previous Broadway ticket investment scheme. In April 2018, Meli was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 78 months in prison for soliciting more than $100 million in investments from 130 investors through false representations.

Meli had used those funds to buy a $3 million house in East Hampton, New York, a 2017 Porsche convertible, and expensive watches and jewelry, according to court documents. He was ordered to forfeit approximately $104.8 million, which represented the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of his fraudulent scheme, and was ordered to pay restitution.

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In the most recent alleged scheme, Siniscalchi and Meli are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, one count of securities fraud, and one count of wire fraud. 

According to the SEC complaint, Meli and Siniscalchi falsely represented to partners in a business entity that they owned a large number of tickets to live events, or intended to purchase a large number of tickets to live events, and would sell those tickets to the entertainment company using investor money. And they promised investors a share of these profits.

But the SEC said that Meli and Siniscalchi failed to invest the investor funds as promised and diverted them for their own personal use, including sending $455,000 to a close relative of Meli’s, and $105,000 to a residential management company that managed an apartment Meli was leasing.

“As alleged, Joseph Meli and James Siniscalchi engaged in a scheme to defraud investors by lying about purported access to blocks of Broadway tickets,” US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement, adding that the two “posed as legitimate businessmen but appropriated the money they said would be invested in theatre tickets.” 

The conspiracy count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The securities fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $5 million, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The wire fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

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ABP Comes Closer to Reaching Sustainability Goals

How the biggest Dutch fund boosted its ESG investments in 2018.

By tweaking requirements for big carbon emission companies and sectors, the Netherlands’ biggest pension fund is on track to meeting the United Nations’ sustainability targets as well as its own.

In its most recent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report, the $482 billion ABP’s sustainable goal-related investments increased by $6.3 billion last year, totaling  $62.3 billion, or 14% of the entire portfolio. This is only $2.6 billion shy of its $64.9 target for next year.

One of ABP’s big focuses is in green bonds, or a debt that goes toward the funding of sustainable projects, such as infrastructure. Its green bond investments grew by $2.4 billion last year, to $6.1 billion. It is now invested in 141 types of green government bonds.

Last year, the civil service retirement fund cut its carbon-related investments to 25% of what they were in 2014. These occurred by both selling carbon-emitters and buying more environmentally friendly companies’ stocks.

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ABP analyzed the sustainable credentials for 7,700 out of 10,000 businesses. It added 150 companies and other investments, such as South Sudan’s government bonds, to its exclusion list. This resulted in the divestment from various tobacco and nuclear arms firms.

The fund also excluded PetroChina, Tokyo Electric Power, and Walmart due to their flouting of the UN’s Global Compact, which wants to end violations of human rights and the environment in corporate practices.

ABP also upped its renewable assets to $5.4 billion during 2018, bringing it just $111 million shy of its 2020 target. These holding were about 11% of its energy portfolio at year-end.

ABP’s green push is in line with that of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, a 17-item directive geared to producing sustainability, ending poverty, promoting diversity, and others causes.

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