Man accused of duping Filipino churchgoers with Covid test scheme to plead guilty
A Southern California business owner convinced victims to invest in his companies, claiming he could detect Covid-19 based on video, and then made lavish purchases, prosecutors said.
A man in the San Fernando Valley of California has agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud, after prosecutors accused him of running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme targeting local Filipino community members, including senior churchgoers.
Sylvein William Maximilian D’Habsburg XVII, 48, has been accused of taking more than $5.9 million from victims over the course of several years. It was all under the guise of investing in his two tech companies, prosecutors wrote in the plea deal, with D’Habsburg making several claims including that his technology could detect Covid-19 infection based on video.
At one point in 2020, D’Habsburg convinced a victim to wire $224,378.43 to his bank account in the name of BAI intelligence, prosecutors wrote in the plea deal reached with the defendant. He then used the money to buy luxury cars like a vintage Rolls Royce and rare antiques, court documents said.
D’Habsburg, who’s also of Filipino descent and changed his name from Sylvein Scalleone, is expected to face a maximum of 20 years in prison, according to the agreement filed last week for the federal felony fraud charge.
In a statement to NBC News, D’Habsburg’s attorney Bryan Thomas said that his client “vehemently denies” running a Ponzi scheme.
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