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Southport Man Gets 21 Months In Prison For $18.6 Million Fraud

SOUTHPORT, CONN. -- A Southport man was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit more than $950,000 for defrauding investors and lenders of millions of dollars through his New Jersey-based company G3K Displays, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Among the victims of the scheme were major retailers of sports apparel and footwear, such as Foot Locker and Adidas,

Among the victims of the scheme were major retailers of sports apparel and footwear, such as Foot Locker and Adidas,

Photo Credit: File

Jonathan Wheeler, 46, must also make $18.6 million in restitution, Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced on Wednesday.

Wheeler and the two other owners and principals of G3K, a company that manufactured and designed displays for retailers around the world, Steven Kaitz, 56, of Jersey City, N.J., and Latchmee Mahato, 50, of Jamaica, Queens, were sentenced in federal court in Manhattan by U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, Bharara said.

Also sentenced in the elaborate accounting scheme was 32-year-old Zachary Kaitz, of Brooklyn, G3K’s vice president of creative services, Bharara said.

Among the victims of the scheme were major retailers of sports apparel and footwear, such as Foot Locker and Adidas, Bharara said.

Wheeler, Steven Kaitz, Mahato, Zachary Kaitz, and a fifth defendant, Kathleen Smith, 50, of South Plainfield, N.J., all pleaded guilty earlier this year, Bahrara said. Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 16.

Rakoff sentenced Steven Kaitz to 40 months in prison. Mahato received 24 months behind bars, while Zachary Katiz got four months in prison, Bahrara said.

Click here for more details of the case from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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