DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — A man was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme while he lived in Durham, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday.
Nayeem Choudhury pled guilty in district court to wire fraud through the use of manipulative and deceptive devices, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Choudhury, who is currently a resident of Fort Worth, TX, was a resident of Durham when he began soliciting option trading investments for his company, Dream Capture Group, LLC through his friend and family networks. For 11 months, Choudhury misrepresented himself to investors by purporting to have success in trading, while secretly losing money in all but two of those months, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to federal prosecutors, Choudhury paid older investors with principal invested by new investors and misrepresented it as trading gains, which is colloquially known as a Ponzi scheme.
Federal prosecutors said Choudhury was responsible for the loss of $6.2 million in investor funds and victimized 88 different individuals. He used other funds for personal purchases, including an $85,000 Mercedes Benz G63.