A former attorney from Somerset County, New Jersey, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for engaging in a wire fraud scheme, as announced by U.S. Attorney Alina Habba. Lawrence Coven, 61, from Hillsborough, New Jersey, confessed to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kirsch at Trenton federal court. Judge Kirsch imposed the sentence.
The court documents and statements indicate that Coven was in control of Sunrise Enterprises LLC, a company allegedly offering financial services to investors. Coven convinced victim investors to provide funds under the pretense that these funds would be invested through Sunrise, promising large profits from short-term loans to borrowers who could not obtain traditional loans. He assured investors of returns ranging between 10 to 15 percent, claiming the investments were risk-free. Instead of fulfilling his promises, Coven redirected the funds for personal use, such as paying utilities, entertainment, real estate expenses, credit card bills, and making cash withdrawals. He further misled investors with false assurances about the safety of their funds and operated payments to investors using other investors' money, employing a Ponzi-like strategy.
Along with the prison sentence, Judge Kirsch ordered Coven to serve three years of supervised release following his imprisonment.
The case investigation was credited to special agents of the FBI, led by Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly in Newark. The government case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fatime Meka Cano and Olta Bejleri of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.
The defense counsel for Coven was Jeffrey Chiesa, Esq.