NEWARK — It was the hottest stock offering in internet history. And with frenzied investors racing to get their hands on shares of Facebook before it went public, admitted scam artist Eliyahu "Eli" Weinstein saw a
$6.7 million opportunity.
Weinstein — then under federal indictment in a separate $200 million Ponzi scheme — convinced an investor he had the inside track on Facebook, claiming "special access" to the hard-to-get shares in the social networking company’s highly sought initial public offering.
Today, Weinstein was charged along with two others with fraud and conspiracy in what was described as a "Byzantine series of monetary transactions" involving a New Zealand investor looking for a quick return, offshore bank accounts and a Brooklyn synagogue seeking cash to pay the life insurance premiums of members who had named the congregation as beneficiary on $350 million in death benefits.
Also charged were Alex Schleider, 47, of Lakewood, and Aaron Muschel, 63, of Brooklyn. Prosecutors said the three stole $6.7 million from the unnamed investor before the scheme came to light.
There were no shares of Facebook. According to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Newark, Weinstein used the money to mostly pay for his mounting legal fees, take his home out of foreclosure, support the Brooklyn synagogue and send his kids to religious school — as well as fund his own investments, including a gold deal in Africa.
"The defendants took advantage of the buzz around the Facebook IPO to fleece unsuspecting investors," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said. "Shamelessly, Eliyahu Weinstein allegedly committed these crimes while under federal indictment for another investment scheme, even using stolen money to pay his legal fees."
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Weinstein, a 37-year-old former used car salesman from Lakewood, had a history of preying on others in his tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community with a virtual portfolio of fraudulent real estate investments and land deals stretching back more than five years. The target of countless civil lawsuits over the years by investors who claimed he took advantage of the trust he enjoyed in his own community, Weinstein was accused of bilking people out of tens of millions of dollars.
Many of his transactions involved those who knew him, or were introduced to him by others in the community. One of his deals involved Solomon Dwek, long before Dwek became the infamous informant behind the biggest corruption and money laundering sting in New Jersey history.
Indicted in 2010, Weinstein was charged in a real estate investment scheme stretching from New Jersey, Florida and California to Israel, soliciting investments for properties he either never owned or had already sold.
While on bail awaiting trial in that case, Weinstein hatched the Facebook ploy, prosecutors say. They said he claimed he could get his hands on large blocks of hard-to-get Facebook shares, in the frenzy that swept the financial markets over the offering. According to the criminal complaint. Weinstein had no access to the pre-IPO shares.
The complaint recounted the luring of an investor in New Zealand, only identified by his initials, "G.C." Told Weinstein "had an interesting deal involving Facebook’s IPO," "G.C." was asked if he had an "appetite." After being assured the money was secure, the victim transferred millions of dollars to purchase the shares, in some cases through offshore accounts in the Channel Islands, according to the complaint.
As part of the conditions for Weinstein remaining free on bail, he was prohibited from engaging in any monetary transaction in excess of $1,000 without approval of a special counsel named to the case.
After Weinstein pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering in January in connection with the unrelated Ponzi scheme, the investor — seeking his money from the Facebook investment — flew to New Jersey in February to confront him. The meeting at the Marriott Glenpointe Hotel in Teaneck was secretly recorded by the investor and his son.
"You’ve got to trust me," Weinstein is heard on the tape, parts of which were transcribed in the criminal complaint. "It’s going to be hard for you because I’m the bad guy. I’m the thief. I only made Schleider money and I made you money."
"Where is it?" demanded the victim.
"You made it!" insisted Weinstein. "I wired it back to you. I didn’t wire you money?"
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Weinstein used the money to pay his lawyers and experts representing him in his pending criminal cases, as well as to make additional investments in other companies and extend loans to a Brooklyn congregation that had insured members who had named the synagogue as the beneficiary of millions in life insurance policies.
In federal court in Newark this afternoon, Weinstein, Schleider and Muschel had their initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo. Bail was set at $1 million each for Schleider and Muschel. Weinstein, however, was ordered held without bail.
Already facing up to 25 years in prison under the terms of his plea in the Ponzi case, Weinstein now faces another 30 years for the fraud in this one.
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