Cedarhurst pair guilty of Ponzi scheme

The former owners of a Valley Stream-based financial business have been found guilty of operating a Ponzi scheme and could spend up to three decades in prison.
A jury in federal District Court of Northern Georgia found that 62-year-old Andrew S. Mackey and his common-law wife, 54-year-old Inger Jensen, both of Cedarhurst, defrauded at least 150 people. Mackey and Jensen were convicted on 15 of 17 counts.
As the owners of ASM Financial Funding Corporation in Valley Stream from 2003 to 2007, the couple marketed their company as a “wealth enhancement club,” and was touted their investment program for a small and select group of sophisticated investors.
According to United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, who prosecuted the case, evidence presented at the trial showed the Mackey and Jensen falsely represented to these investors that they would use their sources to place the investors’ money in private and confidential offshore business deals designed to promote the financial stability of select qualified individuals. Investors were falsely promised interest earnings of up to 20 percent per month.
Mackey and Jensen paid commissions to brokers they called “intermediaries” to help them recruit new investors. These intermediaries in turn repeated the defendants’ false promises to potential investors, not knowing these promises were not true, according to Yates.

The pair made about $12 million through the scam, which Yates said was clearly a Ponzi scheme. They were arrested following an investigation by special agents from the FBI.
The trial lasted eight days before Judge William S. Duffey, Jr. The jury deliberated approximately five hours before reaching its verdicts. Mackey and Jensen were indicted by a federal grand jury on July 20, 2010, on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud.
Mackey and Jensen could each receive a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million for each count of conviction. The pair is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 21.

Five Towns Crime Watch

Arrests
NORTH WOODMERE - On May 19 at 11:33 a.m., Josephine Alade, 28, of Laurelton, Queens was arrested for shoplifting at a home improvement store on Rockaway Boulevard, police said.
NORTH WOODMERE - Peter John Canarelli Jr., 34, of Bethpage, was arrested for shoplifting at a home improvement store on Rockaway Boulevard at 2:35 p.m. on May 21, according to police.
HEWLETT- Jason Behar, 21, of Hewlett, was arrested on Stevenson Road for driving while intoxicated on May 20 at 3:34 a.m., authorities said.

Petit larceny
WOODMERE – A scooter was taken from the driveway of a house on Greenfield Road between 12 and 8 a.m. on May 17, police said.
WOODMERE – A laptop was stolen from a vehicle parked on Midwood Road between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. on May 12, authorities said.
WOODMERE – On May 17 between 1:30 and 6 a.m., a laptop bag was removed from an unlocked vehicle parked on Edward Avenue, officials said.
CEDARHURST – Between 3 p.m. on May 16 and 9 a.m. on May 17, an unspecified amount of money, a Garmin GPS and a child’s booster seat were taken from a vehicle parked on Central Avenue, police said.
LAWRENCE – An unspecified amount of coins were stolen from a vehicle parked on Cumberland Place between 9:30 p.m. on May 18 and 7:30 a.m. on May 19, according to police.
LAWRENCE – Assorted coins were removed from an unlocked vehicle parked on Lord Avenue in Lawrence between May 18 at 6 p.m. and May 20 at 11:30 a.m., authorities said.
NORTH WOODMERE – Officials said that an unspecified amount of cash was stolen from a vehicle parked on Janet Place between 9 p.m. on May 20 and 9 a.m. on May 21.

Criminal mischief
n INWOOD- The side of a vehicle parked on Pearsall Place was scratched — most likely by someone using a key — on May 20 between 3:30 and 8 p.m., according to police.