U.S. Department of Justice Marcos Daniel Jiménez United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida
	99 N.E. 4th Street Miami, FL 33132 (305) 961-9001

DEFENDANT SENTENCED IN SECURITIES FRAUD SCHEME

Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Hector M. Pesquera, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced today that United States District Judge Federico A. Moreno sentenced Anthony W. Blissett to a 60-month period of incarceration, the maximum statutory sentence, followed by three years of supervised release for having previously pled guilty to an Information charging him with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. Judge Moreno also ordered Blissett to pay $27,038,274.48 in restitution to victims. At the conclusion of the sentencing, Blissett was ordered to immediately begin serving his sentence and was taken into custody by the United States Marshals Service.

This matter was part of the Securities Fraud Initiative, a coordinated multi-agency program designed to combat securities fraud in South Florida, involving, among others, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the FBI and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Southeast Regional Office (SEC) in Miami. In December 2002, the SEC filed an emergency civil action against Blissett, ABFI and several affiliated entities.

From approximately July 1989 to December 2002, Blissett was the president and chief executive officer of A.B. Financing & Investments, Inc. (ABFI), a Florida corporation that was principally located in Miami, Florida. Blissett and a co-conspirator managed the day-to-day affairs of the company, which was purportedly in the business of investing in, among other things, real property, securities, commodities, discounted bank notes, and trade finance instruments. Blissett, directly and indirectly, solicited investors to purchase promissory notes from ABFI that guaranteed annual “interest” payments of 30% to investors. In addition, Blissett, directly and indirectly, represented to investors that investing with ABFI involved “no risk,” and that their funds would be “guaranteed” and “insured.” Blissett and his co-conspirator also prepared, and assisted in the preparation of, ABFI’s written sales materials and its promissory note.

To induce investors to invest money with ABFI, Blissett and his co-conspirator provided, and caused others to provide, to investors sales materials and other documents containing materially false statements and omissions of material facts and Blissett, and his co-conspirator made, and caused others to make, materially false statements to investors, and Blissett and his co-conspirator omitted to state, and caused others to omit to state, material facts to investors, including, among others, the following:

Materially False Statements

1. That ABFI was a successful company that had more than $36 million in assets. In fact, ABFI had a negative net worth of more than $27 million, suffered losses in years 2000 and 2001 of $5 million and $7 million, respectively, and as of December 31, 2001, had only approximately $314,000 in cash;

2. That ABFI insured investors’ principal investment. In fact, ABFI neither insured investor funds nor maintained insurance to protect investors from losing all of their money;

3. That investing with ABFI involved “no risk” or “low-risk.” In fact, investing with ABFI involved considerable risk as investors’ returns were dependent on Blissett’s ability to generate profits through ABFI’s investments in, among other things, real property, securities and commodities, which are inherently risky;

4. That investors were guaranteed to receive an annual 30% rate of return. In fact, Blissett could not guarantee investors would receive a fixed annual yield or interest rate because investors’ returns were subject to his ability to generate profits from ABFI’s investments in, among other things, real property, securities and commodities, which involve undertaking a degree of risk and are not subject to generating guaranteed rates of return;

Omissions of Material Facts

5. That Blissett and his co-conspirator misdirected investor funds to either make “interest” payments to existing investors who requested to receive interest on a quarterly basis or to repay investors who withdrew their funds from their account;

6. That Blissett and his co-conspirator were misappropriating investor funds to pay the business expenses of ABFI and affiliated companies under Blissett’s control, including, among others, Blissco Properties, Inc., and JamRock Cultural Productions, Inc.;

7. That ABFI incurred substantial losses trading investors’ monies in securities.

As a result of this scheme, from at least in or around July 1989 through in or around December 2002, investor losses were approximately $27 million.

Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the outstanding cooperative efforts of the Southeast Regional Office of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey L. Cox and Assistant United States Attorney Eric I. Bustillo of the Economic Crimes Section.

Return to Press Release Page

Technical comments about this website can be e-mailed to the Webmaster. PLEASE NOTE: The United States Attorney's Office does not respond to non-technical inquiries made to this website. If you wish to make a request for information, you may contact our office at 305-961-9001, or you may send a written inquiry to the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, 99 NE 4th Street, Miami, Fl. 33132.