Costa Mesa Woman, 5 Others Charged in Fraud Case

Six people, including a Costa Mesa woman, were charged with cheating investors of $14 million by selling bogus “currency leasing” and “high-yield investment” programs on the Internet.

Five of the defendants were arrested Wednesday and one remains at large, federal prosecutors in New York said.

Prosecutors alleged that the ring sold nonexistent investments through Assets International Ltd. and the company’s Web site. They promised returns of $5 million for each $35,000 initial investment, the government said. Dozens of people invested a total of $14 million, prosecutors said.

Investors were told their money would be used to “rent” larger amounts of money from a European bank, and the borrowed money would be invested in high-yield securities, the government said. The defendants allegedly kept the investors’ contributions for themselves, and one bought a $125,000 Mercedes SL 600 convertible.

The U.S. Customs Service has seized about $8 million the defendants had kept in accounts at Smith Barney in New York and Norwest Bank in Las Vegas.

The defendants are Marianne Curtis of Costa Mesa; Antonio Guastella and Robert Martins of Las Vegas; Louis Frechette of Hollywood, Fla.; Roy Thornton of Duluth, Ga.; and Michael McClain, who is at large.