Rand Heckler of Glen Cove pleads guilty to grand larceny charge in $1 million Ponzi scheme, Nassau DA says
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly in Mineola in May 2022. Credit: Howard Schnapp
A former Glen Cove investment broker pleaded guilty Friday to operating a $1 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded his friends and neighbors, prosecutors said, adding that he used the funds to pay his mortgage and a country club membership.
Rand Heckler, 67, pleaded guilty before Judge Terence Murphy to felony counts of second-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheme to defraud. As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Heckler is expected to be sentenced to up to 2½ to 7½ years in prison, forfeit $48,000 that was seized from his bank account, and receive a civil judgment order for the restitution balance at his July 20 sentencing.
“Rand Heckler roped friends, neighbors and even strangers he cold-called into a Ponzi scheme that drained them of more than $1 million, ” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “The defendant used the stolen cash to finance a luxurious lifestyle that included a country club membership and other expenses. Investment brokers are trusted to make smart financial decisions for their clients, but this defendant’s conduct shows he was only in business for himself.”
Michael Finkelstein, Heckler’s Garden City-based attorney, did not immediately provide comment.
The scheme began in 2015 when Heckler, saying he was offering an investment opportunity to an exclusive circle of 15 to 20 associates, recommended to a friend and the friend’s son that they invest in a hedge fund of stocks and securities that he was managing, prosecutors said.
Between December 2015 and January 2020, Heckler received 24 checks from the victims, totaling $755,159, prosecutors said. Heckler kept up appearances by showing the victims statements and false trade confirmations, prosecutors said.
The scam began to crumble in January 2020 when the friend’s son, who has power of attorney for his father, asked Heckler for $100,000 from his father’s account, part of which was for his children’s trust fund, prosecutors said. After a delay of several weeks, he received the $100,000 via a wire to his bank account and was told the money was from the sale of stock.
But the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), discovered that the money was wired directly from another victim — Heckler’s neighbor — in February, prosecutors said. That victim went to the bank with Heckler believing she was wiring a $100,000 life insurance payment from her deceased husband into the hedge fund, but she was actually wiring the money directly to the first victim’s son, prosecutors said.
Heckler also solicited other victims by cold-calling people in other states and getting them to agree to invest, prosecutors said.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
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