Toms River man admits $47 million fraud targeting Orthodox Jewish community

A Toms River man has admitted to running a Ponzi-like investment scheme that defrauded more than 97 victims of approximately $47 million, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced.

Leor Moshe, 43, pleaded guilty to wire fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kirsch in Trenton. He is scheduled to be sentenced on December 16.

Federal prosecutors said Moshe solicited investments in Capital Funding ASAP LLC between June 2019 and June 2023, promising that the money would be used exclusively to finance short-term business loans.

Moshe told investors that the loans would generate returns ranging from 9% to 53%, according to court documents.  Instead, he used new investments to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors and diverted approximately $11 million for personal expenses, including gambling debts, home renovations, mortgage payments, and car loans.

Most of Moshe’s victims were members of the Orthodox Jewish community, prosecutors said.

“The defendant turned the trust of his own religious community into a tool for fraud, exploiting personal relationships to fuel a massive Ponzi scheme,” Frazer said.  “Thanks to the combined efforts of our colleagues at the SEC and federal law enforcement, he has been brought to justice.”

Frazer said his office would continue to pursue financial crimes and individuals who abuse positions of trust for personal gain.

“Investment fraud can drain people’s bank accounts and also upend their lives,” said Stefanie Roddy, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Newark field office.  “Dozens of victims placed their trust in promises made by Moshe, who admits he used their money to pay off his gambling habit, among other things.”