A former Rochester man has been charged by federal authorities with running a Ponzi Scheme.
Prosecutors charged 39-year-old Christopher Parris, currently of Atlanta, with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. They say Parris and his partner, Perry Santillo, were doing business as Lucien Development, based in Rochester. From January of 2012 until their scheme collapsed in 2018, they ran an investment fraud scheme that defrauded about 1,000 investors out of more than $115 million.
Parris and Santillo pitched investment in unsecured promissory notes and stock issues that they controlled.
In fact, they used funds from later investors to pay returns to earlier investors in the classic Ponzi fashion, maintaining a facade of a legitimate business.
