{"id":109016,"date":"2019-09-10T15:14:09","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T19:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=109016"},"modified":"2019-09-10T15:14:09","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T19:14:09","slug":"operation-wright-is-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=109016","title":{"rendered":"‘Operation Wright is wrong’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Attorney General Letitia James<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Attorney General James announces convictions and forfeiture of assets in upstate securities fraud scheme<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

David and Ramona Wright plead guilty to fraudulently soliciting investments to fund Rolex watches, vacations, luxury cars and yacht<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the\nconvictions of David and Ramona Wright, formerly of Sherrill, for third-degree\ngrand larceny and felony securities fraud under the Martin Act for operating a\n$760,000 securities fraud scheme through Wright Wellness Solutions, Inc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Wrights\u2019 actions could only be described as wrong,\u201d\nsaid James. \u201cI\u2019m proud to announce that Wrights will no longer be able to\ndefraud investors out of their hard-earned money and will have to spend their\ntime in prison thinking about how they could have acted right. My office is\ncommitted to ensuring investors are protected from financial predators that\nseek to defraud and abuse New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Wright, 53, president of Wright Wellness Solutions,\nInc., and Ramona Wright, 54, secretary\/treasurer of Wright Wellness Solutions,\nInc., pleaded guilty before Hon. Robert L. Bauer in Oneida County Court last\nweek, resolving two indictments filed in Oneida County earlier this year. The\ndefendants\u2019 pleas are the result of a joint criminal and civil enforcement\naction brought by both the New York Attorney General\u2019s Criminal Enforcement and\nFinancial Crimes Bureau and Investor Protection Bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Attorney General\u2019s indictments and court\nfilings, in June 2009, the Wrights, who were heavily indebted and facing\npotential foreclosure on their home, created Wright Wellness Solutions, Inc.,\nwhich they headquartered at their home. The Wrights claimed the corporation\nwould develop, market and sell a specific rehabilitative hospital bed, to which\nthey had obtained patent rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2009 and 2015, the Wrights solicited and obtained\n$760,000 in investments from more than two dozen individuals in Wright Wellness\nSolutions, Inc., telling investors they needed the money for research and\ndevelopment of the hospital bed patent and promising lucrative and swift\nreturns on investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, however, the Wrights used investor monies,\nalmost exclusively, to fund their own lavish lifestyle, including the purchase\nof a 53-foot Hatteras yacht they named the \u201cMad Hatteras,\u201d two Lincoln\nNavigators, two BMWs, Rolex watches, and a time-share in Orlando, Fla., as well\nas to pay for their daughter\u2019s wedding at a yacht club in Florida. The Wrights\nalso made unauthorized cash withdrawals and transfers to their other business \u2014\nCNY Telecom, LLC \u2014 and used investor monies to pay for daily trips to fast-food\nrestaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wrights\u2019 victims included close friends and long-time\nacquaintances, many from whom the Wrights solicited multiple investments and\nnearly all of whom are Upstate New York residents. In 2014, the Wrights sold\ntheir home in Sherrill and began living full-time on their yacht in Myrtle\nBeach, S.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation by the Office of the New York State\nAttorney General was initiated by a 2017 shareholder complaint to the Investor\nProtection Bureau. In March 2019, the Wrights were arrested on their yacht in\nMyrtle Beach, and they were subsequently arraigned in Oneida County Court in\nApril 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2019, James initiated a civil asset forfeiture\nproceeding against the Wrights, as well as their businesses CNY Telecom, LLC,\nand Wright Wellness Solutions, Inc., before the Honorable Bernadette T. Clark\nin Oneida County Supreme Court. Pursuant to that forfeiture action, the New\nYork Attorney General\u2019s Office obtained a temporary restraining order\nprohibiting the Wrights and their businesses from selling or dissipating\nassets, including their yacht.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sept. 6, 2019, David Wright pleaded guilty to two counts\nof third-degree grand larceny, a class D felony; and one count of felony\nsecurities fraud under the Martin Act, a class E felony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramona Wright pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree grand\nlarceny, a class D felony, and one count of felony securities fraud under the\nMartin Act \u2014 a class E felony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wrights agreed to stipulate to the forfeiture of their\nyacht, as well as $68,000 in funds frozen in their bank account, all of which\nwill be used toward victim restitution. The Wrights also promised to make\nsubstantial additional restitution at the time of sentencing, which is\nscheduled for Dec. 6, 2019. At the time of sentencing, David Wright faces up to\n3 to 9 years in state prison, and Ramona Wright faces up to 1 to 3 years in\nstate prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York State Attorney General\u2019s Office wishes to thank\nthe state police Financial Crimes Unit and the Oneida County District\nAttorney\u2019s Office for their assistance in investigating the Wrights\u2019 crimes, as\nwell as the Horry County Sheriff\u2019s Office in South Carolina for their\nassistance in locating and arresting the defendants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The criminal case is being prosecuted by Special Counsel\nBenjamin S. Clark and Assistant Attorney General Andrew Tarkowski of the\nCriminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau, with the assistance of Legal\nSupport Analyst Joseph Conniff. The Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes\nBureau is led by Bureau Chief Stephanie Swenton and Deputy Bureau Chief Joseph\nG. D\u2019Arrigo. The Division of Criminal Justice is led by Chief Deputy Attorney\nGeneral for Criminal Justice Jose Maldonado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation was conducted by Inv. Joel Cordone, under\nthe supervision of Supervising Inv. Richard Doyle and Deputy Chief Investigator\nAntoine Karam. The Investigations Bureau is led by Chief Oliver Pu-Folkes.\nAudit work was performed by Principal Forensic Auditors Meaghan Scotellaro and\nMarcos Perez. The Forensic Audit Section is led by Deputy Chief Sandy Bizzarro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The civil asset forfeiture proceeding is being handled by\nAssistant Attorney General Kenneth Haim of the Attorney General\u2019s Investor\nProtection Bureau, with the assistance of Legal Assistants Natalya Fadeyeva and\nRenata Bodner, under the supervision of John Genovese, assistant deputy\nattorney general of the Organized Crime Task Force. Nicole Keary is the deputy\nattorney general in charge of the Organized Crime Task Force. The Investor\nProtection Bureau is led by Acting Bureau Chief Kevin Wallace and is a bureau\nof the Division of Economic Justice, led by Chief Deputy Attorney General\nChristopher D\u2019Angelo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attorney General James announces convictions and forfeiture of assets in upstate securities fraud scheme David and Ramona Wright plead guilty to fraudulently soliciting investments to fund Rolex watches, vacations, luxury cars and yacht New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the convictions of David and Ramona Wright, formerly of Sherrill, for third-degree grand larceny and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}