Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Thursday, July 13, Martin Soudani, age 37, formerly of Montgomery, was arraigned in Orange County Court on an indictment charging him with the crimes including Grand Larceny in the First Degree and Money Laundering in the First Degree. The indictment charges that between December 19, 2017, and August 15, 2022, the defendant embezzled $1,620,506.50 from a relative with whom he resided during the commission of the crime.
It is alleged that Soudani lured the relative into permitting him to withdraw the funds from the victim’s trust account so that the defendant could invest them, on the victim’s behalf, on a digital currency exchange. The defendant touted a 10% return on investment to entice the relative into giving him access to the trust fund account and to make transfers to a digital currency exchange. It is alleged that instead of funding the account on his relative’s behalf, Soudani systematically transferred funds to digital currency accounts, called “wallets”, established on various exchanges, which he solely controlled.
The Money Laundering charge stems from allegations that Soudani concealed and disguised the stolen funds through hundreds of transfers of digital currency between his own accounts ultimately making transfers to “cold wallets”, making tracing of the funds more difficult if not impossible. It is alleged that to conceal the thefts from the victim, Soudani created a fake website, and fraudulent monthly statements, which purported to show the victim that his “investment” was with a legitimate exchange and that his funds were secure and increasing in value. Investigation revealed that shortly after the victim became suspicious of the “investments” and was planning to change passwords and control of his account and have someone other than the defendant handle the investment, the defendant fled to Colorado, where he made efforts to not use funds which could be traced back to him.
Soudani was remanded to the Orange County Jail with no bail pending further proceedings, which are to occur in County Court on July 23, 2023.