A Brooklyn podcaster was sentenced to 45 months in prison for stealing $2 million from real estate and cryptocurrency investors while using a fictitious business named after a “Seinfeld” joke.
Thomas John Sfraga, also known as “T.J. Stone,” was sentenced Friday in federal court in Brooklyn. He was ordered to pay $1,337,700 in forfeiture in connection with the wire fraud scheme.
Sfraga, 56, operated multiple businesses, including Build Strong Homes LLC and Vandelay Contracting Corp.
The name “Vandelay” may sound familiar to “Seinfeld” fans. On the show, George Costanza invented “Vandelay Industries” as the name of a fake business, a running joke throughout the series.
“There was nothing funny about his use of a Seinfeldian company, Vandelay Industries, to carry out this fraud, which caused severe financial and emotional harm to the hard-working men and women who trusted him,” United States Attorney John Durham said in a statement.
The podcaster stole from friends, neighbors, parents of his children’s teammates, and cryptocurrency investors, according to Durham.
Sfraga defrauded at least 17 victims, including some in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Long Island.
Victims loaned him money, believing it would be invested in cryptocurrency or used to buy, renovate and flip homes. In one real estate scheme, a victim gave Sfraga $100,000 in cash for startup costs on a construction project that didn’t exist.
According to the district attorney, much of the money Sfraga collected was used “for his own benefit, to pay expenses, and to repay earlier victims and business associates.”
Sfraga fled to Arizona and lived under a false identity after multiple victims filed lawsuits against him. He was eventually arrested at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas after attempting to leave without paying his bill.
Sfraga, who was scheduled to emcee several cryptocurrency events in New York, built a reputation as an entrepreneur, crypto investor, real estate developer and podcaster.
