A former Manhattan restaurant owner who is a focus of a long-running corruption probe at the New York Police Department was charged Friday by federal investigators for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of more than $12 million.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan charged Hamlet Peralta with one count of committing wire fraud. Prosecutors say he solicited money for a wholesale liquor business and instead used the proceeds to repay other investors and for his own expenses.

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