By Kevin Deutsch
A Parkland man who conned elderly investors out of millions pleaded guilty Thursday to wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering charges, authorities said.
Isaac Grossman, 46, of Heron Bay, admitted to running an elder fraud scheme in which he sold stock in his South Florida-based technology company, Dragon-Click Corp., to elderly targets across the country, then misappropriated their money for personal use.
During a hearing in federal district court in Fort Lauderdale, Grossman copped to carrying out the con from September 2014 through April 2018. Along the way, he raised about $2.4 million by soliciting investments from retirees nationwide, federal prosecutors said.
Grossman’s pitch to investors: Dragon-Click was developing a revolutionary internet application, and they had a chance to get in on the ground floor. He told them the new shopping app would allow users to post a photo of any item they might want to purchase and immediately recognize all retailers who sell the item and provide price comparisons and links to purchase.
Grossman admitted he falsely told investors they would double, triple, or quadruple their money. According to the Department of Justice, he even claimed Dragon-Click was on the verge of being sold to a large technology company like Google, Apple, or Amazon for over $1 billion.
In addition to misusing investors’ money, Grossman fraudulently concealed the fact he was permanently barred from acting as a broker/dealer by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and banned from trading by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
After entering the financial securities sector in 1997, Grossman faced regulatory reprimand and consequences in 2012, eventually losing his ability to legally broker deals.
In the Dragon-Click scheme, Grossman told investors their money would be used to complete the shopping app development, close the app’s sale to a large technology company, and pay legal fees related to the patent process.
Instead, Grossman admitted he spent $1.3 million of investors’ money on gambling, diamond jewelry, luxury cars, home mortgage payments, tuition payments for his children’s private school education, and personal expenditures, including the purchase of a McLaren MP4-12C, a Chevrolet Corvette, and a 4.81-carat diamond ring, prosecutors said.
Grossman and his wife, Adriana, were also hit with a civil lawsuit by the SEC in June of 2018 involving an alleged $426,000 in investors’ funds solely on gambling. Adriana was alleged to have spent at least $293,000 of investors’ money between 2014 and 2016.
Isaac Grossman
The Grossmans’ LLC, Dragon Management, was organized by Adriana, and she was listed as the sole signor.
Isaac Grossman is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 23 by U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal.
He faces up to 50 years in prison.
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Author Profile
- Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.
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