Christopher Parris was known to endear himself to the investors whom he enticed into business.
A religious man, he found others of faith and came into their homes, broke bread with them, spoke of families and trials and tribulations. They trusted him, some of them turning over their entire life savings — their assurance of retirements well spent — to him and his investment company.
Many lost everything, some lost most everything, some are now working well into their 70s, wondering if they will ever know much about retirement.
“How many innocent victims now can’t pay their rent or heat their homes,” one victim said at Parris’ sentencing Monday.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Frank Geraci Jr. sentenced Parris, 42, to 244 months in prison, or just over 20 years. Parris was a key player in what the FBI has described as the biggest Ponzi scheme case ever prosecuted in western New York; there were over 1,000 victims across the country, and they invested over $100 million.
Another leader of the scheme, Perry Santillo, has already been sentenced to 17 years.
But Parris didn’t stop with swindling individuals, many of them older, out of their investments.
In the early days of the pandemic he made false pledges to the Department of Veteran Affairs that he could secure needed face masks that were in high demand. That, too, turned out to be a lie, and Parris was criminally charged in federal court in the District of Columbia, accused of trying to dupe Veteran Affairs into an order of 125…
