An Orange County businessman who said he was one of the richest men in Africa has been arrested in a $1.8 million fraud plan.
Amadou Kane Diallo, a Senegalese citizen who lives in Laguna Niguel and is 44 years old, was arrested Thursday on federal charges that say he asked for investments under fake pretenses and used the money to live a lavish lifestyle.
Officials say Diallo took more than $1.8 million from at least 11 people by lying to them. They were told that their investments would let them profit from Diallo’s claimed business success with little to no risk.
As the CEO of two Newport Beach-based companies, Virtual Advisors LLC and Liquide, Inc., Diallo is said to have used the companies to try to get investments for business possibilities in areas like technology, healthcare, real estate, home ownership, and services for the African diaspora.
The indictment says that Diallo lied to his victims, telling them, among other things, that he had raised hundreds of millions of dollars for another investment company and its real estate investment fund.
Instead, Diallo is said to have used the money from investors to buy expensive cars, clothes, expensive dinners, pay his rent, and throw expensive parties for foreign government leaders.
Authorities took three expensive cars, a Ferrari SF90 Stradale, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, and a Range Rover, as well as a Harry Winston ring worth about $12,500 and a brokerage account with about $500,000 worth of stocks, because they thought they were linked to fraud.
Diallo was charged with 19 counts of theft over the Internet and two counts of laundering money. If he is found guilty, each count of wire fraud could send him to prison for up to 20 years, and each count of money laundering could send him to prison for up to 10 years.
If you think you may have been scammed by Diallo, call the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness Unit at 888-549-3945 or send an email to [email protected].