Buffalo Native Convicted For His Role In Overseas Investment Scam

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
PHONE:         (716) 843-5817
FAX:            (716) 551-3051
 
BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Arnold Wrobel, 63, a native of Buffalo, NY, who was most recently residing in Barcelona, Spain, pleaded guilty to conspiring to engage in a wire fraud conspiracy and to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Rogowski, who is handling the case, stated that Wrobel oversaw a “boiler room” scam in Barcelona, Spain. The scam conned investors in the United Kingdom and Canada into buying nearly worthless shares of restricted stock at severely inflated prices by telling buyers that they were buying more valuable regular shares of stock. Approximately 250 investors lost more than $2,900,000 to Wrobel and his co-conspirators. A portion of the criminal proceeds were funneled through a bank account in Western New York before being sent to numerous overseas accounts controlled by Wrobel others. Alert investigators monitoring suspicious monetary transactions uncovered the criminal activity. Wrobel, who grew up in Buffalo, also conspired to defraud the Internal Revenue Service in order to avoid paying taxes on the ill-gotten gains.

The defendant is the second of 12 defendants to be convicted in the case.

The plea is the result of an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of James S. Spero, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Office, and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations Division, under the direction of Michael F. Rivera, Supervisory Special Agent.

Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.