ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A Rochester man will spend the next 22 years behind bars for defrauding hundreds of investors out of more than $115 million dollars.
“This is the largest Ponzi scheme ever prosecuted in the Western New York district, with over 1,000 victims, and over $100 million dollars in fraud,” FBI agent out of Buffalo, Darren Cox said.
Christopher Parris was sentenced for his involvement in two fraud cases. One for a Ponzi scam and the other for fraudulent sale of COVID masks. The Ponzi scam was one of WNY highest level fraud cases.
Sentencing for Parris was over three hours. We heard very emotional testimonies from just a few of the thousand victims of the Ponzi scheme and how they lost all their hard earned retirement money. At one point U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. addressed Parris and said he was “The biggest con man that I’ve ever had in my courtroom”.
“Victim impact statements, which helped the court sentence the defendant to more than 20 years in prison,” another FBI agent said.
We heard six people share heart wrenching stories about how their lives were destroyed. All the money they saved to retire, gone. Some were in person and some were over the phone. Every person stated that they felt betrayed by Parris, that he gained their trust in vulnerable times.
“One woman, who is 77, said Mr. Parris approached her, when her husband was sick and dying, befriended her, gained her trust, and said he could help her. She gave the money…
