Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have leveled charges in two separate scams that ripped off investors of more than $3 million, officials said yesterday.
U.S. Attorney David Kelley said Artour Arakelian schemed to defraud investors in the foreign currency market through a company he started last September called Lexington, Royce & Assoc.
Arakelian, 28, allegedly lured $2.2 million in investments by falsely claiming to have a 20-year track record in currency trading and relationships with major financial institutions. He also claimed to have controlled $11 billion in assets.
He is accused of diverting some of the invested money to bank accounts in Latvia and Costa Rica, writing hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks and funneling some $500,000 to a Brooklyn-based company that cashed his checks at a local check-cashing store.
Arakelian was arrested Wednesday and ordered held without bond. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
Meanwhile, prosecutors unsealed a separate indictment yesterday against Richard Dalberth, 53, charging he ripped off investors who plunked some $1.6 million into a hedge fund he controlled.
Dalberth allegedly promised returns of more than 20 percent last year, when in fact his fund lost money.
Dalberth diverted $600,000 from the fund to pay for jewelry and travel expenses and spent another $400,000 to pay off old debts, prosecutors said.
He faces up to 20 years in prison on the most serious charge.