Nevada Man Arrested in L.A. for Alleged $45 Million Investment Fraud Scheme
Photo: Neil Chandron (Twitter)
LOS ANGELES – An alleged investment fraud scheme that defrauded over 10,000 victims of over $45 million presented a Nevada man a Los Angeles arrest on 06/29/2022. A June 14th previous indictment in the District of Nebraska, unsealed June 29th in Omaha, charged the man.
The owner of a group of technology companies, Neil Chandran (50) of Las Vegas, used false promises of extremely high returns. The fake premise was that one or more of his companies operated under the banner of “ViRSE” was supposedly about to be acquired by a wealthy consortium of buyers.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), “Chandran’s companies — which included Free Vi Lab, Studio Vi Inc., ViDelivery Inc., ViMarket Inc., and Skalex USA Inc., among others — developed virtual- world technologies, including their own cryptocurrency, for use in the companies’ own metaverse. The indictment alleges that Chandran caused other individuals to make various materially false and misleading representations to investors.”
The indictment shows no such buyer group. It also shows how a substantial portion of the funds were misappropriated for puchasing luxury cars and real estate. “A substantial portion of the funds were misappropriated for other business ventures and the personal benefit of Chandran and others”, added DOJ.
“The indictment also alleges that 100 different assets — bank accounts, real estate, and luxury vehicles, including 39 Tesla vehicles — are subject to forfeiture as proceeds of the fraud,” said DOJ. As a result, the U.S. Marshals and the FBI are seizing most of the assets pending resolution of the criminal case.
For three counts of wire fraud and two counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally-derived property, Chandran would face up to 20 years in prison for each wire-fraud count. In addition, he’d face up to 10 years for each count of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions.
The next move will be determined by a federal district court judge at a future date.
