A North Haledon man was sentenced to three years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to defrauding victims who invested with his trading group by offering false statements of returns and pocketed his clients’ investments.
Scott Nicholson, 54, founded the unregulated commodities trading group, Think Big LLC, which he ran as an unregistered investment adviser, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.
Nicholson swindled $471,602 from 24 clients between 2008 and 2017 as his investments failed, a fact he hid from investors by mocking up fraudulent return statements and moving around money he received in new investments, the OAG said on Thursday.
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In April 2021, the state Bureau of Securities issued a cease and desist order to Nicholson, who later pleaded guilty to theft in Superior Court in September.
In addition to his prison term, Nicholson was ordered to pay back the hundreds of thousands of dollars he scammed from investors.
“Today we are telling those who financially prey on investors, you will face justice,” said Lyndsay Ruotolo, director of the Division of Criminal Justice.
Anyone who believes they were a victim of Nicholson’s scam is urged to Ruotolo’s office at 866-TIPS-4CJ.
Nicholas Katzban is a breaking news reporter for NorthJersey.com. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Email: katzban@northjersey.com
Twitter: @nicholaskatzban
