GLEN COVE, NY – Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced today that Rand Heckler, a 67-year-old former investment broker from Glen Cove, was sentenced to a term of two and a half to seven and a half years in prison for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded friends and acquaintances of over $1 million.
Heckler had pleaded guilty in April 2023 to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree. Today’s sentencing followed a recommendation by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office (NCDA) for a three to nine-year prison term. Additionally, Heckler was ordered to pay restitution of $919,160 and forfeited $48,000 seized from his bank account.
Starting in 2015, Heckler misled close friends and associates into investing in a purported hedge fund, promising high returns. From December 2015 to January 2020, victims issued 24 checks totaling $755,159.
The scheme unraveled when a victim’s son, acting under power of attorney, requested $100,000 from his father’s investment for his children’s trust fund, which Heckler delayed, falsely claimed was funded by the stock sale.
Another victim, the defendant’s neighbor, went to the bank with the defendant in February 2020, believing she was wiring a $100,000 life insurance payment from her deceased husband into the hedge fund when, in fact, she was wiring the money directly to the first victim’s son. The defendant’s neighbor was led to believe she would receive monthly dividend payments from her investment and did not know there was a problem until NCDA investigators contacted her.
During the investigation, at least two other victims were discovered to have been defrauded by the defendant in a similar manner.
The case, which was initially brought to the NCDA by the Securities and Exchange Commission, revealed that the funds were actually sourced from another victim’s investment. This unsuspecting neighbor was deceived into believing her $100,000 wire transfer was an investment, not knowing it was directly funding another victim’s withdrawal.
The NCDA has acknowledged the contributions of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in uncovering this fraudulent scheme.