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LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Los Angeles announced the arrest of a real estate broker in an alleged Ponzi scheme that cost investors more than $62 million.
Milton Retana. 43, Norwalk, was ordered to appear before a federal magistrate Wednesday after being picked up on eight counts of fraud and a charge of making false statements to federal agents.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles said in a written statement Retana, a native of El Salvador, lured more than 2,000 investors into his scheme by telling them he was running a prosperous investment fund in the then-booming Southern California real estate market. He used seminars and advertising in Spanish-language news media to attract new investors.
In reality, prosecutors alleged, Best Diamond Funding made only a handful of actual deals between 2006 and last October while the rest of the investments went into Retana's pocket.
Investigators said the alleged scam was disrupted in October when the FBI and Postal Inspection Service seized $4 million in cash from Best Diamond Funding's offices and a religious bookstore owned by Retana's wife.
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