The treasurer of a pro-Trump political action committee that ran afoul of campaign finance laws almost immediately after it was formed has been charged with running an international Ponzi scheme in which he allegedly duped investors out of nearly $7 million that he used to fund his own opulent lifestyle, including vacations, luxury vehicles, and a down payment on a million-dollar home.
David W. Schamens, a 64-year-old North Carolina resident who in 1996 was barred from the securities industry by the SEC over allegations of fraud, is now accused of securities fraud, along with wire fraud and money laundering, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday in New Jersey federal court.
Schamens, the feds claim, carried out a years-long scam with victims in at least three U.S. states and as far away as Australia. But Schamens, who heads a New Jersey-based firm that develops and sells stock-trading software, bizarrely claims the charges are a product of a political vendetta being carried out for his support of Trump, whom he now derides for breaking his campaign promise to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
