Miami, Florida – Fifty-year old Broward County resident Jason Ganton pled guilty yesterday to participating in a fraud scheme that bilked investors out of more than $900,000.
During yesterday’s hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart in West Palm Beach, Ganton admitted his role in the scheme, which ran from 2015 to 2019. This included making baseless promises to would-be investors about the profitability of NIT Enterprises, a Palm Beach company that falsely marketed itself as being on the cusp of developing and producing radiation protective materials using an innovative technology. Ganton, who was not a licensed securities sales agent, also admitted to lying to investors by telling them that NIT was on the verge of making an initial public offering of stock. This created a false expectation that investors would double or triple their investments in a short amount of time. In fact, there was no IPO on the horizon for NIT. Ganton admitted that he reached most of his victims through cold calls and that he personally profited from the investor funds.
Ganton pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who sits in Fort Pierce, Florida, will sentence Ganton on a date to be announced. Ganton faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
As to the other defendants named in the information, the charges are mere allegations. Those defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a parallel civil enforcement action against Ganton and others related to this activity.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, and Ronald L. Rubin, Commissioner, Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR), announced the guilty plea.
FBI Miami and OFR investigated this matter. SEC Miami Regional Office assisted.
Assistant U. S. Attorney Lothrop Morris is prosecuting this case.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case no. 20-cr-80095.
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