A former West New York couple was sentenced to 71 months in prison for defrauding dozens of investors with a Ponzi scheme, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachel Honig announced.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Jennifer Wee Cifuentes, 40, and her husband, Alcibiades Cifuentes, 39, both formerly of West New York, were each sentenced to 71 months in prison, Honig said in a statement.
Alcibiades Cifuentes pleaded guilty on November 8th, 2019, and Jennifer Wee Cifuentes pleaded guilty on November 18th, 2019, both before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court.
They were each charged with with four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud, and one count of stealing funds intended for investment in commodities.
Salas imposed the sentences today in Newark federal court.
The couple engaged in an investment fraud scheme from 2012 through March 2015.
They induced victims to invest in the foreign currency and commodity markets through Cifuentes Fund Management (CFM), their hedge fund that purportedly invested in foreign currencies, and then almost immediately spent those investment funds on personal items, such as an Audi R8 automobile and jewelry.
The couple would then pay back a portion of the victims’ money with money received from newly duped victims, defrauding approximately 30 victims of more than $400,000.
In addition to the prison terms, Salas sentenced the each of the defendants to three years of supervised released and ordered them to pay $434,914 in restitution and forfeiture of $218,957.