Main Line Man Admits To Scheming Millions From Investors, More

GLADWYNE, PA — A former Main Line man pleaded guilty in federal court to scheming investors, employees, and partners out of millions of dollars to create a lavish lifestyle for himself, authorities said.

Josh S. Verne, 47, formerly of Gladwyne and now a Florida resident, pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of securities fraud, nine counts of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.

These charges stemmed from a series of schemes through which Verne defrauded dozens of investors, prospective investors, employees, and business partners out of millions of dollars.

Verne was charged by indictment in August of last year with carrying out the schemes, which took place from about 2017 to 2020.

Verne held himself out as a wealthy and successful businessman, entrepreneur, and investor, carrying out his fraudulent activities through a series of limited liability companies, of which he was the chief executive and over which he maintained control, authorities said.

Among other things, Verne falsely represented his prior business successes, falsely represented his personal net worth, falsely represented his own investments, and falsely represented the financial health of his companies and investments to induce others to invest in or provide loans to him or his companies, according to federal officials.

They said Verne admitted to providing an investor with a forged Goldman Sachs statement that showed family investment holdings for Verne of more than $50 million, when, in fact, Verne did not have an investment account at Goldman Sachs in his own name or in his family’s names, much less an account with a market value of more than $50 million.

Verne also misused business and investor funds to repay prior debts and to finance an affluent lifestyle he could not afford, such as personal expenses related to renovations to his showcase vacation property on the Jersey shore, travel on private jets, contributions to political candidates, personal charitable contributions, and country club payments, authorities said.

He eventually admitted that to delay and prevent discovery by law enforcement of his own misconduct, he later sent bank and FedEx confirmations purporting to confirm delivery of funds to investors to whom he had promised repayment. The bank and FedEx confirmations were false and fraudulent, according to authorities.

Authorities also said Verne stole the identity of a former employee from his company, forging the employee’s signature on a sales agreement to disguise an unauthorized sale of the employee’s shares of stock. In doing so, he earned $150,000 from the unauthorized sale and used those funds to make payments to himself and to a prior investor.

Verne is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13 and faces a maximum possible sentence of 242 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of two years, three years of supervised release, a $17,500,000 fine, and a $1,300 special assessment.

He was also ordered to pay full restitution.