Opinion
May 11, 1990
Appeal from the Cattaraugus County Court, Dillon, J.
Present — Doerr, J.P., Boomer, Green, Pine and Lawton, JJ.
Judgment unanimously affirmed. Memorandum: The evidence was sufficient to sustain the convictions for larceny by false promise. "The conclusion that defendant was engaged in a fraudulent Ponzi scheme is inescapable" (People v. Luongo, 47 N.Y.2d 418, 428). Here, as in People v Luongo (supra) and in People v. Blum ( 132 A.D.2d 933, lv denied 70 N.Y.2d 702), defendant represented to his associates that the money they gave him would be invested and that they would receive extraordinarily high rates of interest; instead, he used funds received from subsequent investors to pay off his prior obligations.
We do not view defendant's sentence as harsh and excessive.