August 6, 2019

A N.J. man is facing criminal and civil charges for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousand of dollars in investor money to buy a boat, pay off credit cards and pay off previously duped investors, authorities said.

Tanmaya Kabra, 25, falsely promised investors quick, no-risk returns of up to 32%, mostly through promises that he would invest the money in start-up companies through his Boston-based firm, LaunchByte.io LLC, also known as The Kabra Group LLC, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

Kabra is also facing criminal wire and bank fraud charges filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts.

The SEC identified him as a Boston resident, but the U.S. Attorney's Office said that although Kabra orchestrated his "Ponzi-like" scheme through LaunchByte.io and several affiliated Boston-based investment companies, his last known residence was in Weehawken, N.J.

Prosecutors said he was arrested at Logan Airport in Boston on Monday.

"He held himself out to investors as a successful serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and angel investor in start-up companies," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a press release. "In reality, Kabra used the money that he received from investors to pay off existing debts to prior investors in his scheme and to fund his lavish personal expenses."

Kabra faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the wire fraud charge and 30 years for the bank fraud charge, the release said.

Kabra carried out his scheme for a year leading up to at least June, holding himself out to be the managing director of Vanguard Ventures Group, which "purports to work with 'high-powered firms to execute complex models in alternative investment sectors' and to be 'focused on projects ranging from [$250 million to $2 billion] in size," the SEC said in its complaint.

"Kabra's actual use of investor funds reveals that Kabra's 'investment' opportunities were fabrications," the SEC complaint said.

The complaint listed multiple instances of Kabra accepting money from investors for the stated purpose of investing them in start-ups, and then immediately using the money either for personal uses or to pay previous investors. In one instance, on July 3, 2018, the day after Kabra got a $200,000 investment from one investor, and a $150,000 promissory note from another, after telling them he was a high-net-worth investor who had access to "cool deals," he signed a purchase agreement to buy a $255,000 "295 Pursuit" boat from a dealer in Peabody, Mass., according to the SEC.

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