Brooklyn – Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the indictments of Adam Heng for fleecing six investors of a total of $540,000 they believed he was investing in the stock market.

District Attorney Hynes said, “People gave Adam Heng their life savings, and in his sick greed, he robbed them blind. It takes a complete lack of conscience to commit this type of cold-hearted crime. I want to thank the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York Regional Office, who referred this matter to my office.”

Heng, 30, is charged, in a 25-count indictment with Three Counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Money Laundering, Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree and other charges. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 45 years in prison.

The indictment charges that Heng created a phony investment firm, Pershing Capital, LLC, and cold-called potential investors, whose names he gathered at legitimate brokerage houses where he worked for short periods. Five of the six victims were senior citizens, one of whom, a 78-year-old Korean War veteran, lost $320,000 to Heng’s scam.

Though the investors believed their money was being used for stock purchases, Heng actually spent it himself on a home in Binghamton, expensive restaurants, jewelry, strip clubs and other luxury purchases, according to the indictment. He sent the victims false investment statements periodically, and even small returns, to keep them from suspecting him, the indictment charges. The returns usually prompted the victims, who live all across the country in states as distant and far flung as Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania.

(Dov Gordon – YWN Desk)