October 19,2018:

An Investment Adviser was convicted of charges for defrauding investors out of millions of dollars, some of which she used to pay more than $800,000 for prayers by the Hindu Priests in India to ward off the federal investigators.

Federal Jury deliberated for roughly four hours over two days before convicting 56-year-old Dawn Bennett, following a two-week trial in Maryland.

Bennett was indicted last year on 17 counts, including charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis did not immediately set a sentencing date.

Prosecutors stated that Bennett used money that people had invested in her luxury sportswear company to finance her lavish lifestyle, including six-figure expenditures on astrological gems, cosmetic medical procedures and the religious rituals in India.

Jurors heard testimony that Bennett paid a man in Washington State to arrange for the Hindu priests to pray for her while her business was collapsing and she faced a Ponzi Scheme investigation by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

FBI agents found evidence in Bennett’s Chevy Chase home that she tried to silence the SEC investigators by casting “hoodoo” spells, according to an FBI affidavit that accompanied her arrest last year in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Agents found instructions for placing people under a “Beef Tongue Shut Up Hoodoo Spell” and found initials of SEC attorneys written on lids of Mason jars stored in the Bennett’s freezers, affidavit stated.

Jurors didn’t hear any testimony about the paranormal practices during Bennett’s trial.

Prosecutors said Bennett didn’t tell investors she was using their money on the Hindu prayers and other personal expenses.

One of her attorneys submitted that Bennett was free to mix her personal and business expenses.

FBI’s Investigation of Bennett began in December 2015 after SEC formally accused her of defrauding the investors by inflating amount of assets she managed and exaggerating returns on her customers’ investments.

SEC cited Bennett’s statements on her paid weekly radio show, “Financial Myth Busting With Dawn Bennett.”

Source HT

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