Middle-aged and graying, Janice Rey looked like a school teacher as she calmly walked into Magistrate Court Thursday with a pleasant smile. But prosecutors from the Department of Justice say the 48-year-old Antigua native is actually a swindler worthy of the major leagues.
In a very quick arraignment hearing Thursday, Rey plead not guilty to multiple and overlapping charges—ranging from fraud to passing bad checks—that the Department of Justice says amount to at least $7 million in ill-gotten gains between 2007 and 2009.
Assistant Attorney General Denise George-Counts has said the investigation into Rey’s alleged cons continues to grow. At least 30 people have been identified as victims so far.
According to court documents and a recent statement by DOJ, Rey ran an investment scam through her Rey Financial, LLC, and Paramount Group, LLC, in which she offered investors “risk-free” investment plans offering “double returns.”
In one instance, Rey allegedly “induced” an individual to invest $600,000 in a “paramount group platform,” in which the principal investment would be returned in full after a given time. Justice says that under similar pretenses, other people entrusted Rey with sums as large as $350,000 and $94,000 at a time.
Not only was the principal not returned, DOJ says, but sometimes Rey passed bad checks for the amount.
"It’s devastating. A lot of people put in their life savings, people invested their children’s college funds and even mortgaged their homes," George-Counts said, according a recent report in the Daily News.
Rey ran similar scams in Tortola, St. Maarten and as far away as Colombia, George-Counts said at Rey’s advice of rights hearing, according to the report.
After a lengthy investigation led by the DOJ Special Investigations Division and White Collar Crime and Public Corruption Division, Rey was arrested in Miami on Feb. 8 and extradited to St. Thomas last week. She was advised of her rights on March 11 and released to third-party custodians on $150,000 bail.
Rey is charged with being involved in a Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organization, obtaining money by false pretense, drawing or delivering worthless checks, being an unregistered broker dealer and securities fraud.
Judge Brenda Hollar will hear the case when it comes to jury trial. No date has been set.
