Manalapan Broker Sent To Prison In $1.2M Investment Fraud: US Attorney

TRENTON, N.J. — A Manalapan man who was a debarred broker has been sentenced in federal court to 45 months in prison for defrauding 14 victims of more than $1.2 million, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

He also was sentenced for fraudulently obtaining a loan of approximately $96,000 meant for small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sellinger said.

Anthony Mastroianni Jr., 49, pleaded guilty on Sept. 13, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch to two counts of wire fraud, he said.

Kirsch imposed sentence Thursday in federal court in Trenton.

In addition to the prison term, Kirsch also sentenced Mastroianni to three years of supervised release and ordered restitution of $1.3 million.

Mastroianni was first charged in August 2022.

“This defendant admitted defrauding investors by taking the money they entrusted to him and using it for his personal benefit, rather than investing it,” Sellinger said.

“He did this after already having agreed never to work as broker. Investors need to know their money is being used for their best interest, and not to line the pockets of criminals. Mastroianni is now realizing the price that must be paid for stealing from innocent victims,” Sellinger said.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In 2016, Mastroianni consented to being permanently barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which prohibited him from acting as a broker or intermediary in securities transactions.

Despite that debarment, Mastroianni admitted that from January 2017 to August 2022 he defrauded victim investors, many of whom were senior citizens, by falsely and fraudulently claiming that he would generate large investment profits for them through his company, Global Business Development & Consulting Corporation, Sellinger said.

Instead of investing the money as promised, Mastroianni used victim funds on personal expenses, Sellinger said.

In total, Mastroianni defrauded 14 victims of approximately $1.2 million, he noted.

Mastroianni also "exploited the ongoing global pandemic by submitting a false and fraudulent application to obtain approximately $96,300 from a federal COVID-19 emergency relief loan meant for distressed small businesses," Sellinger said.

Mastroianni misused the loan proceeds to make personal purchases and cash withdrawals, he added.

Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Thomas Mahoney in Newark, with the investigation leading to the sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Silane of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark. Defense counsel was Joseph Mure, New York.