Marc Lawrence Pleads Guilty to Securities Fraud | Goodman & Nekvasil P.A. May Recover Investor Losses
According to the Department of Justice
MARC LAWRENCE pled guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud in connection with his role as a senior executive of a number of corporate entities (collectively referred to as “Downing”) that were operated as a Ponzi-like scheme. LAWRENCE solicited millions of dollars from Downing investors through materially false and misleading statements regarding, among other things, Downing’s use of investor proceeds, sources of funding, financial condition and ability to pay salaries to employee-investors, and portfolio companies. LAWRENCE pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. LAWRENCE’s co-defendant, David Wagner, the chief executive officer of Downing, previously pled guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud before Judge Hellerstein on September 21, 2020.
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As he admitted in court, Marc Lawrence and his co-defendant swindled employee-investors of their purported venture capital firm. They fraudulently induced employee-investors to hand over more than $8 million that was supposed to be invested in profitable business operations. The firm was a sham, and employee-investor funds were used to pay personal expenses or pay off other investors in Ponzi-like fashion. Now Lawrence awaits sentencing for his crimes.”
According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court:
From at least in or about December 2013 through at least in or about 2017, Wagner, the chief executive officer of Downing, and LAWRENCE, the president of several Downing entities, solicited investments in Downing, a purported venture capital firm that would invest in healthcare start-ups referred to as “portfolio companies” and provide sales, operations, and management expertise to the portfolio companies in order to bring their products to market and generate returns for Downing investors, who also worked for Downing (the “employee-investors”). Wagner and LAWRENCE, and others acting at their direction, solicited more than approximately $8 million in investments in Downing from employee-investors located across the United States, including in the Southern District of New York, as a requirement of employment with Downing.
Investors in Downing or with Marc Lawrence May Recover their Losses with Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A.
If you invested in Downing or with Marc Lawrence, Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A. may help you. Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A., a Clearwater, Florida, law firm with a national practice representing victimized investors, has recovered more than $180 million dollars on behalf of victimized investors.
All our cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis by Kalju Nekvasil, Esq., formerly regional counsel with the NASD, now known as FINRA. Kalju Nekvasil, Esq. has practiced in this area of the law for more than 35 years.
There is no charge for an evaluation of your case. Further, we handle our cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that unless we recover money for you, we charge no attorney’s fee. Unless you recover any money, you pay us nothing, not even the costs and expenses which the firm will advance on your behalf.
If you incurred investment losses in Downing or with Marc Lawrence and would like your case evaluated by a securities attorney (again, there is no charge for an evaluation and all cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis), please contact us.