Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JONATHAN GHERTLER pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in connection with his scheme to impersonate senior leaders of two Manhattan-based investment firms, resulting in over $1 million in losses to their portfolio companies, and to impersonating a partner of a global law firm on telephone calls with federal law enforcement agents who were investigating the scheme.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Jonathan Ghertler defrauded companies of over $1 million by impersonating some of the most prominent figures in finance. But law enforcement got wind of his scheme. Again. And when Ghertler saw the writing on the wall, he brazenly impersonated a partner of a global law firm and tried to convince federal agents and an Assistant United States Attorney to drop their investigation. His efforts failed and his fraud was unraveled, as have all of Ghertler’s past frauds, thanks to the persistent work of the prosecutors of this Office and our law enforcement partners."
According to the allegations in the Indictment and Complaint:
From at least in or about December 2021, up to and including at least June 2022, GHERTLER impersonated the General Counsel of a global private equity firm (the “Private Equity Firm"). In doing so, GHERTLER fraudulently caused the Private Equity Firm’s portfolio companies to pay at least $200,000 to fund a non-existent internal investigation into alleged links between senior employees of the Private Equity Firm and Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier who, before he died on or about Aug. 10, 2019, had been charged in the Southern District of New York with sex trafficking of minors and conspiring to commit sex trafficking of minors.
In addition, from at least May 2021, up to and including February 2023, GHERTLER impersonated the founder of an investment firm (the “Investment Firm"), directing the Chief Executive Officer (the “CEO") of one of the Investment Firm’s portfolio companies (the “IF Portfolio Company") to make at least $865,000 in payments to fund a non-existent internal investigation related to the founder’s alleged relationship with Epstein. In recent weeks, GHERTLER, posing as the founder of the Investment Firm, had discussed with the CEO the possibility of making a large investment into a restaurant chain owned by another investment firm.
On or about February 7, 2023, after learning from the CEO that federal investigators were investigating a potentially fraudulent payment made by the Investment Firm, GHERTLER, posing as a partner (the “Partner") at a global law firm, spoke on the phone with Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI"). GHERTLER told the federal agents that the IF Portfolio Company had chosen not to report the fraud because it had been “made whole" by the fraudster.
On or about Feb. 10, 2023, GHERTLER, impersonating the Partner, spoke again with federal agents. GHERTLER said, after “consult[ing]" with “associates and lower-level partners" at the Global Law Firm who “used to work" at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, “our position is that, uh, the law states that, umm, you know, if the money was paid back prior to, uh, the crime being, uh, discovered, uh, it’s not a crime." GHERTLER added that his “client [i.e., the founder of the Investment Firm] has a lot of other issues he is dealing with right now, so this is one he really doesn’t need to deal with."
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GHERTLER, 60, of Orlando, Florida, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of making false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge. Sentencing has been scheduled for August 9, 2023, at 11 a.m.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Sowlati is in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys