October 30, 2003
FREMONT WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO BILKING INVESTORS OUT OF APPROXIMATELY $3.1 MILLION IN INVESTMENT FRAUD SCAM
United States Attorney's Office announced today that Ms. Nimfa Montes Beredo, aka Patricia Beredo, 39, of Fremont, California, plead guilty to wire fraud, credit card fraud, and money laundering today before United States District Court Judge Lowell Jensen.
In pleading guilty today, Ms. Beredo admitted that from January 1997 through February 2003, she induced approximately 23 individuals, the majority of whom resided in the Bay Area, to "invest" more than $3.1 million in Ms. Beredo's purported business ventures. To get these individuals to provide money to her, Ms. Beredo falsely claimed that she had entered into contracts with airlines that allowed her to purchase airline tickets in bulk at a discounted rate, that she would use the investors' money to purchase airline tickets in bulk at a discounted rate, that she would resell those tickets at a significant profit, and that she would share those profits with investors. Ms. Beredo falsely guaranteed various investors that they would earn returns of 5% per day, per week, or per month. Ms. Beredo then used the proceeds from the investments she received for her own benefit and to pay off earlier investors in her scheme.
Ms. Beredo also convinced some of her "investors" to provide her with certain personal information, including but not limited to credit cards and credit card numbers. Ms. Beredo then used those credit cards, without authorization, to obtain things like food, clothing, airline tickets, cash advances, and entertainment. In addition to the millions she took in through her investment scheme, Ms. Beredo admitted to racking up more than $120,000 of unauthorized credit card charges on these victims' accounts.
The Fremont Police Department, Fraud Investigation Unit, began receiving reports from victims regarding the defendant's investment scheme in June 1998. IRS Criminal Investigation joined the Fremont Police Department in the investigation in May 2001. The FBI joined the investigation in 2002.
Judge Jensen scheduled Ms. Beredo's sentencing for January 2004. Under the Plea Agreement, Ms. Beredo agreed to a sentence of approximately 57-63 months in federal prison in addition to being ordered to pay restitution to her victims, but the actual sentence will be determined by the Court and imposed according to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take a number of factors into consideration. Ms. Beredo has been in custody since she was arrested in February 2003.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the Fremont Police Department, Fraud Investigation Unit. Douglas Sprague is the Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting this case.
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can. Related court documents and information may be found on the District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.cand.uscourts/gov.
All press inquiries to the U. S. Attorney's Office should be directed to AUSA Matt Jacobs at (415) 436-7181.
|