Orthodox Ponzi Schemer Deemed LA's Madoff Stole $500 Million
Ezri Namvar stole $500 million, mostly from his fellow Iranian Jews. Found guilty of four counts of wire fraud, he's due to be sentenced in August and could get 80 years in prison.
Ezri Namvar stole upwards of $500 million in a ponzi scheme that defrauded many members of the Los Angeles Iranian Jewish community.
Namvar was convicted in late May of four counts of wire fraud relating to $23 million of that.
Most investors have given up hope of being repaid.
Namvar and his CFO, who was also convicted, each face up to 80 years in federal prison.
…Several Iranian Jewish victims of Namvar’s ponzi scheme expressed satisfaction at the jury’s verdict today since Namvar has long denied any wrongdoing among those in his community.
“Many of us victims feel that justice has been served somewhat today with this conviction,” said Abraham Assil, an Iranian Jewish business man and victim of Namvar’s ponzi scheme. “But we still believe more criminal charges need to be brought against the other Namvar family members involved for their role as accomplices to the criminal actions of Ezri Namvar”.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice statement, both Namvar and Tabatabai face statutory maximum sentences of 80 years in federal prison. U.S. District Court Judge Anderson ordered Namvar who is free on bond to be subject to home incarceration with electronic monitoring. Anderson has scheduled a June 1 hearing to determine if Namvar should be taken into custody prior to his August 22nd scheduled sentencing.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in downtown L.A. and Namvar’s attorney did not return calls for comment on the case. A. David Youssefyeh, a Century City Iranian Jewish attorney representing some of Namvar’s Iranian Jewish creditors in other civil cases against Namvar, said the banker’s conviction has been a long time coming for his victims.
“The fact that Ezri Namvar was convicted of fraud is a surprise to no one,” said Youssefyeh. “However, justice is not done yet. Justice will be done when Mr. Namvar is sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.”
Namvar was forced into involuntary bankruptcy in December, 2008, and accused by investors of creating a Ponzi scheme that lost as much as $500 million loaned to him — most of it by Los Angeles’ Iranian Jews. The petition followed 17 lawsuits filed against Namvar, his company Namco, entities owned by Namvar and other Namvar family members, alleging breach of contract and contractual fraud in a case that attorneys estimate involves 300 to 400 creditors, the majority of them Iranian Jews.
Youssefyeh said Namvar’s victims have been particularly frustrated during the last near three years because they have had to endure tremendous financial hardships while Namvar has continued to enjoy his lavish lifestyle and made a concerted effort to hide his assets during the bankruptcy proceedings.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Namvar has no one to blame but himself,” Youssefyeh said. “If he hadn’t spent so much time and effort trying to hide his assets from his victims, he would probably not find himself here today”.
A report released in early 2010 by the trustees in Namvar’s bankruptcy case, Namco owes more than $500 million to more than 170 secured and unsecured creditors. The report also states that Namco is owed more than $600 million from loans it made to 16 members of Namvar’s family, various limited liability corporations owned by Namvar and to more than 60 individuals and entities. In addition, the report indicates that Namvar gave himself a loan of more than $32 million, and he also gave $50 million to each of his four children.
Many of Namvar’s Iranian Jewish creditors are low- to middle-income couples, individuals or retired seniors who invested their small savings with Namvar and his company, hoping to receive higher interest rates than what most banks were offering at the time. Their investments ranged anywhere from $10,000 to $300,000, and most said they had lost all hope of regaining their funds.
The Namvar case has bitterly divided many in Southern California’s tight-knit Iranian Jewish community, with many of the Namvar victims expressing frustration with the community’s social and religious leadership for remaining largely silent about Namvar’s culpability.…
Namvar is due to be sentenced August 22.
Court Documents as PDF FIles:
While Persian Jews are not Haredi, their behavior is the same. When their son is being raped by another Haredi they will say 'It is Mesira' and they will not press charges but when a Jews steals few thousand dollars from them they will find an heter to press charges.
Posted by: Bassy the Haredi Slayer | July 10, 2011 at 04:48 PM
Is this R' Dovid Zagari's community
Posted by: Who is it | July 10, 2011 at 05:28 PM
There was this guy in my old shul in Minneapolis...
Kept wanting me to invest my retirement with him- "best interest" he said
I never did
I bet he had the funds invested with madoff
Posted by: Isa | July 10, 2011 at 06:09 PM
Moshe don't spam. What you posted has nothing to do with the article.
Posted by: Yissy-CA | July 10, 2011 at 07:54 PM
Bassy that was the worst generalization ever. Persians have wide variety of types, hardei, not haredi, traditional sephardi. And the two comment, just shows your stupidty.
Namvar was a thief though. My uncle lost half million with him. Worst is he had a kippa and called himself orthodox.
Posted by: fm | July 10, 2011 at 08:04 PM
Does anyone know Alon Friedman or his wife Perel Friedman from Boca Raton? They scammed thousands of dollars from people who felt sorry for them. Maybe not Madoff money but....these are "Frum" people. They rented properties, trashed them, left behind evidence of hard core drug use and left owing many months rent. If you come across them, beware.
Posted by: Boaz Feldman | July 10, 2011 at 10:30 PM
Back in the mid 80s...
This Israeli comes to shul says he got a teaching job at the University of Minnesota and is broke. His first grant[?] check will come in two weeks but he needs money to tide him over...
This Persian fell for it as well as some others that the Persian convinced to give...
The Israeli ran away with <$2000
The comment that went around was...
This experience was worth a college education.
The Israeli, a few years later was sent to prison for a couple of years
Posted by: Isa | July 10, 2011 at 10:38 PM
the headline says it all
Posted by: Yoel Mechanic | July 11, 2011 at 12:23 AM
This is a very sad story for the Persian community in LA.
I know Ezri Namvar AND the courageous reporter who covered this story for JewishJournal.com, Karmel Melamed, and some of the members of the Persian community who lost money with Namvar.
No one is happy now.
Melamed (who came to America from Iran as a baby) had lots of pressure from the Persian community to keep this quiet, and the Journal was also scolded for publishing 'dirty laundry' in public.
I still don't know what to think because Ezri was always kind to me and I know he gave a lot of money to charity.
The money is all gone, lives are ruined and the community -- especially the Persian shul Nessah in Beverly Hills -- was rocked to its core.
Iranian Jews in LA need a refuah shlemah.
Posted by: Dennis Wilen | July 11, 2011 at 02:09 AM
That's a lot of money in anyone's language.
Posted by: Adam Neira | July 11, 2011 at 04:48 AM