Thaindian News

NEW YORK CITY (BNO NEWS) – An alleged Ponzi schemer was charged last Friday for preying on Filipino immigrants in a $1 million scam, prosecutors said on Monday.

Razel Canedo, 41, was arrested on charges of running a million-dollar Ponzi scheme that targeted the Filipino immigrant community in New York City. According to the charges, From January 2003 to July 2008, Canedo solicited investments from members of the Filipino community in the New York City area by representing that the funds would be invested into one of two companies that she owned – Lady of Lourdes and K&K Nannies.

Canedo told investors that they would earn a return on their investment of anywhere from three percent per month to fifty percent per year. Canedo told victims that the money invested in Lady of Lourdes would be used to pay for training, immigration, expenses, and placement services for nurses from the Philippines who wanted to work in the United States, and that the money invested in K&K Nannies would be used to pay for similar services for aspiring nannies. She also represented to her victims that they could withdraw their principal at any time with no losses.

Canedo presented checks and promissory notes to investors which she claimed could be cashed at any time to recoup their original investment. In numerous instances, when victims would attempt to cash the checks, they bounced. When questioned by those victims, Canedo assured them that they would be paid, and gave them various excuses for why the checks had bounced.

She initially made a small number of payments, which she represented to be investment income or “interest” income, to some of the investors in order to manipulate them into keeping their money with her, to invest additional funds, and to recruit other investors. In fact, these “interest” payments were simply made from the funds Canedo received from other victims, to create the impression that the investments were generating returns.

Canedo’s fraudulent scheme cost dozens of victims a total of more than $1 million.

She is charged with mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. If convicted, Canedo faces a maximum sentence of up to 40 years imprisonment. Canedo is expected to appear in a Manhattan federal court later on Monday.