It’s shocking how close to reality that Ben Affleck flick “Boiler Room” was.
Just last week, an indictment was filed in Brooklyn federal court against three men accused of swindling millions from residents in an operation in which residents thought that they were investing their money in successful ventures.
Federal prosecutors said that 50-year-old Alan Labiner, 32-year-old Khurram Tanwir, and 36-year-old Ahmed Awan were charged with conspiracy to commit securities, mail, and wire fraud. If convicted, they could receive five years in jail, officials said.
Investigators allege that the trio embezzled $6 million from 50 clients between 2004 and 2009.
The investors believed that they were putting their money in real estate ventures in the Upper East Side and companies that sold boxing equipment. But the companies that their victims invested in existed on paper only, officials said. Instead, their money went to the three suspects, who allegedly blew it on strip clubs, tanning salons and car washes, according to the complaint.
Just like the movie, Tanwir and Awan allegedly trained and then supervised cold-callers who contacted prospective clients and enticed them to invest.
As part of the scheme, the cold-callers were instructed to tell potential investors that they had missed a profitable opportunity based on a stock that had actually increased in value when the cold-caller had “last called them,” when, in fact, no previous call had been made, officials said.
