Warren man charged with mail fraud in scam

Staff report

CLEVELAND

David J. Harriett, 60, of Warren is charged with one count of mail fraud in an alleged Ponzi scheme that defrauded about 200 investors of about $7 million, the U.S. attorney said.

Harriett, who was the owner and president of DJ Harriett Inc., was charged in an information filed Monday in U.S. District Court.

The filing of an information usually means the defendant won’t contest the charge.

The information alleges that from August 1996 through January 2010, Harriett represented to those investors that he and his company were approved “project managers” for the construction of new McDonald’s and Pioneer Chicken franchise restaurants in Northeast Ohio, New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Harriett solicited investors, and, in exchange for their investments, provided them with promissory notes purportedly guaranteeing the return of their investment, plus significant interest, the U.S. attorney said.

Harriett mailed numerous letters to investors that falsely represented the success and growth of the company as well as the existence and success of franchise construction contracts, the U.S. attorney added.

The defendant knew the investor money wasn’t being put to any legitimate use, but rather, to make Ponzi payments to other investors, to operate the company and for his own purposes and personal use, said Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

The case is assigned to Judge Kathleen O’Malley.

The case is being prosecuted by Bridget M. Brennan, an assistant U.S. attorney, after an investigation by the Youngstown FBI office.