The president and a top officer of the Secaucus-based real estate investment company National Realty Investment Advisors LLC (NRIA) have been charged for their roles in a scheme to defraud more than 2,000 investors in a $650 million Ponzi scheme, and with conspiring to evade $26 million in tax liabilities, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger has announced.
Thomas Nicholas Salzano, aka “Nicholas Salzano,” a 64-year-old of Secaucus, and Rey E. Grabato II, a 43-year-old of Hoboken and the Republic of the Philippines, are charged in an 18-count indictment unsealed on October 12. Previously, in June the New Jersey Bureau of Securities issued a Summary Cease and Desist Order to NRIA.
Both men are charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Salzano is also charged with two counts of aggravated identity theft, two counts of tax evasion, and five counts of subscribing to false tax returns.
Salzano was arrested on October 12, and appeared by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre on October 13. Grabato remains at large.
Also on October 13, Arthur S. Scuttaro, a 62-year-old of Nutley, the former head of sales at NRIA, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud in the same scheme. His sentencing is scheduled for February…