South Florida Resident, Jorge Garrido Sentenced to 70 months for Investment Fraud
Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) announced that Jorge Garrido, 45, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga on August 7, 2019, to 70 months in prison. Garrido was also ordered to pay approximately $5.7 million in restitution after previously pleading guilty to orchestrating the investment fraud scheme (Case No. 18-20784-CR-ALTONAGA).
Photo/Robinraj Premchand
According to the court record, from 2010 to 2017, Garrido served as the president, director and registered agent of G & C Investment Corp (G&C). In those capacities with G&C, Garrido solicited investors for advance contributions of as much as $1 million, which Garrido stated he would use to monetize bank instruments, engage in platform trading, or fund humanitarian platforms, among other things. Garrido promised staggering returns to his investors of as much as 15- or 20-times their initial contribution. Garrido also claimed he could guarantee the safety of the investors’ principal by asserting he owned U.S. Treasury Notes which would serve as collateral for the investments. In reality, the Treasury Notes did not exist.
Garrido failed to provide promised returns to investors, and instead used nearly $5 million for his personal benefit. He then attempted to flee the country in March 2017 after learning of the Government’s case against him, and was apprehended at Palm Beach International Airport by the FBI as he was preparing to board a private charter jet headed for Europe.
Judge Altonaga ordered Garrido’s sentence to be run consecutively after he completes a 46-month sentence he is currently serving for a separate mortgage fraud case (Case No. 15-20973-CR-WILLIAMS).
U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and OFR in this matter. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
