Encino Man Gets 9 Years for Ponzi Scheme

SANTA ANA, Calif.—A 51-year-old Encino man was sentenced Dec. 18 to nine years in federal prison for a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 40 investors out of millions. Motty Mizrahi pleaded guilty Jan. 6 to six counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney will hold a restitution hearing at a later date. The defendant’s brother, Sassi Mizrahi, 58, of Sherman Oaks, was convicted Feb. 14 of five counts of wire fraud and was sentenced last month to 87 months in prison and ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution. The two “operated a Ponzi scheme that targeted victims they knew had reason to trust them—fellow members of the close-knit Orthodox Jewish Israeli community in the San Fernando Valley,” prosecutors said in a sentencing brief. “Exploiting the goodwill engendered by such affinity, defendants scammed millions of dollars from their victims with false promises of risk-free investments and guaranteed returns.”...