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Perez had plead guilty in 2010 to running a $45 million Ponzi scheme through a jewelry business. He's reportedly cooperating with feds in the hopes of having his sentence reduced.
Social Affairs magazine called Perez, probably in an overstated sense common in glad handing manner of empty luxury magazines, "one of the most successful independent private jewelers in the country."
"He stole at least $6 million for lavish personal spending on limousines, extravagant dinners, bodyguards, and political contributions that helped bolster his image in the local community," says an SEC release.
Investors thought they were investing in two of Perez's companies, Lucky Star Diamonds Inc. and Luis Felipe Jewelry Design Corp. (neither had employees other than Perez), and that their money was collateralized by diamonds. In fact, Perez said he kept diamonds in deposit safes, however they turned out to be fake.
Instead much of the money went to Perez's own lavish lifestye.
Perez's political contributions went to Republicans, including Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, John McCain's presidential campaign, and Norm Coleman's ill fated Minnesota senate campaign.
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