The charge of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year sentence on top of any other punishment that would be imposed. If convicted on the one count each of wire fraud and securities fraud, Baston would face up to 20 years in prison for each charge. “As we allege in our complaint, Baston deceived investors by using an alias to conceal his criminal history and by initially making payments to create the false appearance of a successful investment strategy,” Tejal Shah, associate regional director in the SEC’s New York office, said in a statement. Baston’s supposed strategy in the scheme saw investors get back the initial payment plus interest in order to gain trust and induce them to invest more money.Īfter that, the Justice Department charges, Baston stopped paying the investors back, providing excuses when prodded about where the money was. Investors meanwhile were promised short-term real estate deals with a high rate of return on investment.
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