Federal agents in New Jersey have arrested the longtime business partner of popular radio personality DJ Envy in connection with an alleged fraudulent real estate scheme.
The arrest comes a week after the News 4 I-Team reported on investors who claim they were swindled out of millions of dollars.
Cesar Pina, who was often featured on Envy’s syndicated iHeartRadio show “The Breakfast Club,” was arrested Wednesday on wire fraud charges. The federal complaint against Pina, 45, alleges that he engaged in a Ponzi-like scheme to defraud dozens of victims.
Envy, whose real name is Rashaun Casey, has not been charged. But many of the alleged victims say they were influenced by his celebrity.
Federal prosecutors said Pina amassed a “significant” social media following through his partnership with Envy to attract his investors. Envy and Pina often teamed up for seminars to pitch opportunities to flip properties, often in distressed areas of New Jersey.
“As alleged in the complaint, Pina used his celebrity status and social media to develop a devoted following of potential victims. By promising returns that were too good to be true, Pina allegedly defrauded dozens of people out of millions of dollars,” US Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a press release on Wednesday.
Investors have said that Pina promised to fix up a property and flip it within months, returning 30% of the profits. Dozens of his alleged victims have now filed lawsuits saying they never got their money back. In a number of cases, Pina is accused of getting several unknowing investors to buy into a property, making him a multi-million dollar profit.
Pina pleaded not guilty to fraud and was released on $1 million bail and electronic monitoring. He is not allowed to leave the state.
DJ Envy had no comment on Wednesday, but last week responded to reports of the alleged scheme:
“The reasons why I did these seminars is because I wanted to uplift my community. I wanted to teach my community about real estate, things that I didn’t know when I bought my first house. I wanted to teach our community about investing and generational wealth.
A source familiar with the investigation said the iHeartRadio offices were visited by federal agents who removed electronic equipment as part of the ongoing investigation.
