HOMEGROWN BUSINESS

California Man Sentenced for Running $7M Ponzi Scheme Out of Mom and Dad’s House

Sassi Mizrahi was convicted of wire fraud earlier this year for running a sham investment company alongside his brother, preying on the local Orthodox Jewish community.

A California man convicted of wire fraud was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison on Monday, more than four years after he was arrested for running a multimillion-dollar scam with his brother out of their parents’ home in Encino. Sassi Mizrahi, 58, was accused of fleecing dozens of members of the local Orthodox Jewish Israeli community out of a collective $7 million between 2012 and 2019, convincing their victims to hand their money over to a sham investment company. Mizrahi and his brother promised the investors “guaranteed” returns every month, telling them they could withdraw their money later, but deposited the funds into their own personal trading accounts, prosecutors said. Mizrahi was found guilty of five counts of wire fraud in February. On Monday, he was also ordered to pay more than $4 million in restitution. His brother, Motty Mizrahi, 51, pleaded guilty in January to six counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft; he is scheduled to be sentenced next month.