Attorney General James Announces Arrests in Nearly Decade-Long Ponzi Scheme that Defrauded Investors Across New York and Nation of More Than $1 Million

 

Purported Managers of Headhunting Firms Charged with Money Laundering, Grand Larceny, Securities Fraud, and Scheme to Defraud

 New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced the arrests of two defendants charged with operating a nearly decade-long Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors from throughout New York and the rest of the nation of more than $1 million. Attorney General James today filed a 42-count felony complaint charging Carl R. Carro (59, of Walton in Delaware County) and James W. Doyle (72, of White Plains in Westchester County) — the purported managing directors of headhunting companies Endeavor Management Solutions, LLC and Endeavor Consultancy, LLC — of multiple counts of Money Laundering, Grand Larceny, Securities Fraud, and Scheme to Defraud.

“When New Yorkers put their hard-earned savings into an investment, they expect their money to work for them, but the greed of the operators of these corporations never gave victims a chance to make a profit,” said Attorney General James. “After nearly a decade, the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Carl Carro and James Doyle fell like a house of cards, robbing most victims of thousands of dollars. Today, we’re holding these two men accountable for cheating investors and using investment funds to enrich and dig themselves out of a hole. My office will continue to use every resource at its disposal to hold accountable anyone who tries to cheat innocent New Yorkers out of their hard-earned savings.”

According to the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) felony complaint, between at least January 2012 and December 2020, Carro and Doyle solicited investments in their companies, Endeavor Management Solutions and Endeavor Consultancy, from over 50 victims from New York and from other states around the country. Carro and Doyle allegedly misrepresented to investors that Endeavor was a headhunting firm hired by prestigious clients to find candidates for openings on their boards of directors. Carro and Doyle are charged with luring investors with false promises of interviews for board positions, then offering purported no-risk investment opportunities in their firm. The two defendants allegedly promised their victims that investments would be held in an untouched cash reserve fund that purportedly held over $1 million and guaranteed a 10 to 20 percent return on investment after 30 days.

The complaint lays out that instead of holding the investments in a cash reserve fund, Carro and Doyle deposited investor monies into various accounts, none of which ever had a balance of more than $200,000. An OAG audit revealed that investor funds were used for personal expenses and to pay back previously defrauded investors. According to the audit, Carro and Doyle spent nearly $500,000 on cash withdrawals, more than $200,000 to pay credit card bills, squandered more than $57,000 on pet expenses, and exhausted more than $350,000 to pay previously defrauded investors, including over $170,000 in restitution to victims in Carro’s prior criminal cases. Carro and Doyle are charged with stealing between $15,000 and $30,000 from each of the more than 50 victims from 2012 to the present, with total losses to all victim-investors exceeding $1 million. 

To further their nearly decade-long scheme, Carro and Doyle allegedly engaged in a pattern of excuses and delay tactics regarding their inability to repay investors. These delay tactics included telling investors that the bank would not release their funds, when in fact the funds were already depleted; alleging that repayment checks were in the mail, only for investors to receive empty envelopes; and creating a fictitious attorney to act as in-house-counsel for Endeavor during disputes with investors’ over the return of their investments.

The felony complaint also lays out how the two defendants engaged in a complex money-laundering scheme to conceal and promote their ongoing crimes. Carro and Doyle allegedly used bank accounts at multiple financial institutions in an effort to disguise and conceal the true source and ownership of the money. The complaint further charges that the proceeds were laundered in a Ponzi-like manner to make repayments to previously defrauded investors, without revealing that the actual source of the repayments was funds from newly defrauded investors. While the defendants repaid some investors a very small percentage of their investment, most investors received no repayment at all. 

The OAG’s 42-count felony complaint — filed in Walton Town Court in Delaware County — charges Carro and Doyle, acting in concert, with two counts of Money Laundering in the Second Degree (a class “­­­C” felony), 19 counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (a class “D” felony), 20 counts of Securities Fraud under the Martin Act (a class “E” felony), and one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree (a class “E” felony).  

Carro and Doyle were arraigned today before the Honorable Jacqueline Lamport. Carro was remanded and Doyle was released on his own recognizance. 

The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.