Former UGA student sentenced to 5 years in prison for running $1 million Ponzi scheme out of frat [View all]

Former UGA student sentenced to 5 years in prison for running $1 million Ponzi scheme out of frat house


A former University of Georgia student who ran a $1 million Ponzi scheme out of his fraternity house was sentenced to five years in prison Friday, according to a news release from the Middle District Court of Georgia. Syed Arham Arbab, who ran the scheme out of the Phi Kappa Tauhouse on West Broad Street, defrauded around 117 investors between May 2018 and May 2019.

Arbab’s sentence of five years is the maximum prison sentence allowed under the law, and he will have three years of supervised release after his time in prison, the release said. There is no parole in the federal system. He was also ordered to pay around $500,000 in restitution.

Arbab collected $1 million in investments while running the scheme, some from fellow UGA students and their families. He solicited around 117 investors to invest in his fake hedge funds, Artis Proficio Capital Management and Artis Proficio Capital Investments, the release said.

He said he spent investor funds on personal expenses, “including clothing, shoes, retail purchases, fine dining, alcoholic beverages, adult entertainment and interstate travel, including spending thousands of dollars gambling during three trips to Las Vegas in 2018,” according to the release.

Read more: https://www.redandblack.com/uganews/former-uga-student-sentenced-to-5-years-in-prison-for-running-1-million-ponzi-scheme/article_da769954-01ff-11eb-bb8b-8f26ce23bfe5.html