Community Corner
Bel-Air Estates Man Gets 10 Years in Prison for Fraud
A former Century City attorney will also be sentenced for his part in the Ponzi scheme.
A former Beverly Hills investment fund manager who gave financial advice on a Farsi-language radio show was sentenced Monday to 10 years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $24 million for his part in a Ponzi scheme.
John Fahari, 55, of Bel-Air Estates, pleaded guilty in June to four felony counts -- mail fraud, loan fraud, selling unregistered securities and conspiracy to obstruct justice while collaborating with his corporate counsel to cover-up the fraud.
In a plea agreement, Farahi acknowledged that the scheme caused losses of more than $7 million, while prosecutors reserved the right to argue that losses exceeded $20 million.
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Farahi admitted in the document that he engaged in a scheme that started as early as November 2005 to defraud investors by using their funds for a range of unauthorized purposes, including paying off early investors and subsidizing trading in futures, prosecutors said.
Fahari and co-defendant David Tamman, a former Century City attorney, were named in 2011 in a 41-count indictment accusing Farahi of making false statements to Troubled Asset Relief Program-funded banks and duping investors into believing that their money would be used to buy corporate bonds backed by the TARP program, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
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The indictment also charged Tamman, 45, of Santa Monica—who served as corporate counsel for Farahi's New Point Financial Services firm—with conspiring with Farahi to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.
When the SEC began investigating in April 2009, Farahi and Tamman tried to conceal the fraud by altering documents, lying to the agency and removing incriminating documents from investor files, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Tamman was convicted following a bench trial on 10 federal counts, including conspiring to obstruct justice, altering documents, being an accessory after the fact to Farahi's mail and securities fraud crimes, and aiding and abetting Farahi's false testimony before the SEC, prosecutors said.
Tamman is scheduled to be sentenced May 20.
