Ex-Chester Radio Host Craig Carton Sentenced For $4M Ponzi Scam

CHESTER, NJ — Chester's Craig Carton, the former WFAN and New Jersey 101.5 FM talk show host was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for his role in a $4 million ticket-reselling Ponzi scheme.

"[Carton] talked of his ability to buy blocks of tickets to live events and sell them for a profit on the secondary market. But the talk-show host was all talk. Carton’s purported agreements to buy blocks of tickets were part of an elaborate fiction," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement Friday following the sentencing. "Today he has learned that the price of defrauding investors is a term in prison."

Carton, Michael Wright of Upper Saddle River, and Joseph Meli worked together to get investors to provide them with millions of dollars with the idea the money be used to purchase blocks of tickets to concerts, which would then be resold on the secondary market, authorities said.

Related: Bergen Man, N.Y. Radio Host Accused Of Running Ponzi Scheme To Pay Debts

However, the three allegedly used the millions they fleeced investors out of to pay off personal debts, including some to casinos.

Besides the prison term, Carton must repay the $4.8 million in restitution and forfeit $4.5 million. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Carton, 50, reportedly wired $133,000 to several casinos after having access to $700,000 from a hedge fund that he and Wright allegedly defrauded.

Carton resigned as co-host of the "Boomer and Carton" show in September 2017 after he was arrested. He launched a podcast called, "Hello, My Name Is Craig" in November 2017.

The show paid Carton $2 million a year and was the No. 1 radio show in the country in all male demographics, according to a New York Daily News report.

Carton spoke candidly about his life, including how he lost everything because of his gambling addiction, in a video viewed by a New York Post staffer.

"My 7-year-old son went back to school after the summer. The teacher said, 'I want you to draw for me your favorite places to visit,'" Carton said in the report. The boy drew three casinos. That's when Carton said he realized he had a problem, the Post reported.

Carton once called the "legal issues" that plagued him "unfounded." He was found guilty of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit those offenses after a one-week trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon. McMahon imposed the sentence on Carton.

Ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, actor Joe Piscopo, and Carton's former WFAN co-host Boomer Esiason, backed Carton's request for leniency in the case, the New York Daily News reported.

Related: Craig Carton Seeks Leniency In $4M Ponzi Scam Sentencing: Reports

Carton faced a maximum of 45 years in prison, according to the New York Post.

Carton listed his Chester mansion for $2.4 million in 2017, according to Realtor.com. It now has an asking price of $1.9 million. The home comes with a movie theater, wine cellar, basketball court and a home gym. It has six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and sits on over four acres in Chester Township.

Wright pleaded guilty to wire fraud in September. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison.

Meli pleaded guilty to securities fraud in October 2017 and is serving a 78-month sentence.

With reporting by Karen Wall and Katie Kausch

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com