Las Vegas businessman convicted in multimillion-dollar fraud scheme
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A New York jury voted to convict a Las Vegas businessman on federal charges after he took part in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.
As the 8 News Now Investigators first reported, the FBI arrested Martin “Marty” Mizrahi, 53, in December 2022. Mizrahi founded LV.net, a Las Vegas-based internet company.
After a 12-day trial, the jury found Mizrahi guilty on charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, among other charges connected to the defrauding of banks and credit card companies of nearly $8 million and the laundering of $4 million in drug money, prosecutors said Monday.
Court documents mentioned LV.net in forfeiture allegations but not outwardly in terms of Mizrahi’s criminal actions.
Prosecutors said Mizrahi laundered money from a Mexican-based drug cartel. Other money was obtained through a business email compromise scheme, prosecutors said. In addition, Mizrahi ran up nearly $8 million in fraudulent transactions through his company, though the company was not named.
“Martin Mizrahi brazenly used his company as a front to launder millions of dollars in drug and fraud proceeds and to deceive credit card companies into processing additional millions of dollars in sham charges,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “The jury’s unanimous verdict sends a resounding message that individuals who steal and introduce illicit funds into the U.S. financial system will be held accountable.”
Mizrahi said he was innocent in a January 2023 interview with the 8 News Now Investigators.
“In August 2021, the United States government seized funds from me based on Bitcoin that I had sold in May 2021,” Mizrahi said to the 8 News Now Investigators. “The funds transmitted to me were simply payment in consideration for Bitcoin. At the time, I fully believed the funds that were wired to me were from a legitimate source and I had no reason to believe otherwise. Indeed, I had provided the FBI any/all docs they had requested of me.”
Mizrahi faces decades in prison. A sentencing date was not immediately available Monday.
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