Ponzi scheme nets N. Barrington man 25-year prison sentence
Daily Herald report
A 55-year-old North Barrington man was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to operating a Ponzi scheme that bilked 455 investors out of $105 million.
Federal prosecutors said Daniel Spitzer targeted the elderly in his investment scheme that left at least 279 of his victims out nearly $34 million. The other $71 million was used to pay off earlier investors.
Authorities said from 2004 to 2010, Spitzer and an accomplice ran several investment firms and told investors his rate of return over the past five years ranged from 4.52 percent to 13.54 percent. The rate was actually less than 1 percent during that time frame, authorities said.
Investigators also determined that only a third of the $105 million investors gave the men was actually invested, according to prosecutors.
Spitzer's former underling, Alfred Gerebizza, 59, of Crystal Lake, was convicted of fraud after a trial this past summer. Gerebizza is awaiting sentencing.