NEWARK, N.J. (1010 WINS) — The CEO and president of a New Jersey real estate investment firm were both charged for running a Ponzi scheme worth about $650 million and avoiding taxes, the DOJ announced Thursday.
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Thomas Nicholas Salzano, 64, and Ray Grabato II, 43, lied to more than 2,000 investors about the finances of National Realty Investment Advisors, the use of investors’ money and Salzano’s history of fraud, according to an 18-count indictment.
Salzano was arrested Wednesday, but Grabato is still at-large.
To the public, Grabato was the CEO of NRIA, but Salzano secretly ran the show.
They did this to avoid scrutiny for a scheme that Salzano had previously been caught running in Louisiana.
From February 2018 to January 2022, Salzano and Grabato ran a nationwide marketing campaign involving thousands of emails; advertisements on billboards, television and radio; and presentations to investors.
They lied when they said NRIA was a solvent business. In reality, it was a Ponzi — paying back investors with new investments.
Both men are also accused of attempting to cheat the IRS out of $26 million in taxes that Salzano owed.
“These defendants schemed to create a high-pressure, fraudulent marketing campaign to hoodwink investors into believing that their bogus real estate venture generated substantial profits,” U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. “In reality, their criminal tactics were straight out of the Ponzi scheme playbook so that they could cheat their investors and line their own pockets.”
They face a litany of fraud and tax charges, and could serve decades in prison if convicted.
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