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Portfolio > Alternative Investments > Real Estate

Woodbridge CEO Gets 25-Year Sentence for Fraud

By Janet Levaux

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Ex-Woodbridge Group of Companies CEO Robert Shapiro has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by a federal judge in Miami for leading a $1.2 billion fraud scheme that hurt some 8,400 investors. 

The ruling comes about two months after Shapiro plead guilty to fraud and income tax evasion tied to real estate investments and six months after his arrest.

Federal Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga was in charge of Tuesday’s sentencing, which includes imprisonment for a term of 300 months, supervised release for three years, restitution and forfeiture. A restitution hearing is scheduled for Jan. 17, 2020. 

An SEC complaint on the matter said that Shapiro operated Woodbridge as a massive Ponzi scheme from July 2012 through December 2017. The firm targeted “unsuspecting investors nationwide through fraudulent unregistered securities offerings.” Many of the investors were seniors.

Two of Shapiro’s associates received more than $3 million in transaction-based and other compensation, the regulators said.

Shapiro used some $36 million raised from investors to purchase luxury homes, art, wine and jewelry, according to a Bloomberg report.

Janet Levaux

@Think_JanetL

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