SANTA ANA – A 44-year-old Laguna Niguel man was arrested Thursday on federal charges of bilking at least $1.8 million from 11 investors.
Amadou Kane Diallo, a Senegalese national, was expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Santa Ana Thursday afternoon. His attorney, John Littrell, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Diallo’s 21-count indictment, which was unsealed Thursday, alleges he told would-be investors from 2015 through January of 2020 that he was a “self- made millionaire and successful entrepreneur who had become wealthy working in e-commerce, information technology and other industries.”
Diallo “flaunted his ownership of luxury homes and vehicles, falsely claimed that he owned them debt-free, and at times falsely claimed to be one of the richest men in Africa” to woo investments in his Newport Beach- based companies, Virtual Advisors LLC and Liquide Inc., according to the indictment.
Diallo solicited investments from “mostly his friends and acquaintances,” the indictment alleges.
The defendant “presented varying investment opportunities to potential victim-investors, including business ventures in technology, health care, real estate, home ownership and service to the African diaspora,” the indictment alleges.
Diallo told the investors he could self-finance the proposed business ventures and that he had already raised hundreds of millions of dollars for for a real estate investment fund, the indictment alleges.
Diallo said the investments would “merely serve as `skin in the game”‘ and that the commitments would provide “substantial upside with little to no risk,” the indictment alleges.
“In fact, contrary to defendant Diallo’s representations to potential victim-investors, defendant Diallo intended to use their funds for his own personal expenses and to support his high-end lifestyle,” the indictment alleges.
Investors signed one-year convertible promissory notes that “falsely guaranteed a minimum 10% return on investment and return of principal, with the option to convert the note into equity at the maturity date,” the indictment alleges.
Diallo never paid out any returns on investment or returned any principal investments, the indictment alleges.
Some of the alleged victims transferred funds from their retirement accounts, according to the indictment.
Diallo used most of the investor money on rent on his home as well as “luxury vehicles, including payments for a Rolls-Royce and a Ferrari, clothes and other personal shopping and dining, fitness club memberships and spas and Amazon purchases,” the indictment alleges. He is also accused of “lavishly” hosting and entertaining foreign government officials.
Authorities have seized a number of the items, including a Ferrari SF90 Stradale, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Range Rover as well as a Harry Winston ring worth about $12,500 and a brokerage account containing about $500,000 in stocks, according to prosecutors.