ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The owner and operator of an Alexandria-based precious metals investment firm was convicted on charges of wire fraud and violating the Travel Act relating to a precious metals Ponzi scheme. A jury convicted Warith Deen Muhammad, 39, on Wednesday.
According to court records and evidence presented at trial, beginning in November 2021, the McLean man falsely told more than a dozen investors that if they invested with him and his business, Niagara Gold and Silver LLC, he would use their money to buy, trade and sell precious metals. Muhammad guaranteed profits of 5 to 10% and told investors that they would receive their principal plus interest back, typically within 30 days.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia, to mask the fraud, Muhammad used new investors’ funds to pay prior investors, leading investors to believe that their investment had been “successful,” inducing them to invest more money and to recruit others to invest. In total, from November 2021 through June 2023, Muhammad used fraudulent representations to induce more than 12 investors to send him over $1.5 million…