FBI: Long Island investment firm boss surrenders
Topics in Legal News 2009/01/26 15:15 The owner of a Long Island investment firm accused of cheating people out of more than $100 million is expected to appear in court Tuesday.
FBI spokesman Jim Margolin says Nicholas Cosmo surrendered at a U.S. Postal Inspection Service office in Hicksville on Monday night.
Cosmo runs Agape World Inc. in Hauppauge (HAW'-pawg). He's accused of taking in $300 million from investors and cheating them out of about $140 million.
A letter hanging in Cosmo's office window denies there was any Ponzi scheme, the type of fraud Bernard Madoff (MAY'-dawf) is accused of committing. A Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme promises unusually high returns and pays early investors with money from later investors.
Defense attorneys at the Herrick Feinstein law firm haven't returned telephone calls seeking comment.