Three Arrested in Facebook Stock Scam
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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Three men who claimed special access to Facebook stock were arrested Tuesday.
In the hype surrounding Facebook’s initial public offering, federal prosecutors say Eliyahu Weinstein and Alex Schleider of New Jersey and Aaron Muschel of New York “took advantage of the buzz…to fleece unsuspecting investors.”
Court records say the men convinced a New Zealand resident identified by the initials G.C. to wire nearly $7 million by claiming special access to pre-IPO Facebook shares.
Prosecutors say they used the money for themselves. In fact, Weinstein was under indictment in another scam and prosecutors say he tried to pay lawyers with ill-gotten gains from this one.
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