A U.S. finfluencer pleaded has guilty to fraud in connection with a US$20-million Ponzi scheme based around real estate investments.
According to court filings, between 2019 and 2023, Tyler Bossetti took in more than US$23 million from investors, who ended up losing over US$11 million in his real estate investment scheme, which he promoted through YouTube and Facebook.
“The defendant, through his company Boss Lifestyle LLC, guaranteed large rates of return for short-term investments,” the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Ohio reported.
However, U.S. authorities alleged that he misappropriated investors’ funds to finance the scheme, to fund his lifestyle, and to make crypto investments.
Bossetti has now pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aiding in a false tax filing for causing false tax forms to be issued, and filing those forms with the U.S. tax authorities that reported bogus interest income for investors.Â
“Bossetti claimed he had reinvested victims’ interest earnings when in fact he did not,” authorities noted.