A coordinated three-year financial scam that exploited trust within the Haitian diaspora across three U.S. states has concluded with a guilty conviction and sentencing, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced publicly on July 30, 2026. The perpetrator, 35-year-old Haitian national Marc Henry Menard—who went by the alias “Marco” and previously resided in Mineola, New York—was taken into custody in August 2025 for defrauding hundreds of thousands of dollars from community members in New York, Florida and Georgia.
Over the course of the scheme that ran from July 2020 to June 2023, Menard built a false persona as a seasoned, high-performing trader specializing in stocks and cryptocurrency to win the confidence of his targets, who were almost exclusively members of the Haitian diaspora. Operating under the umbrella of his registered company, Marcotech LLC, Menard lured victims with the promise of outsized monthly returns ranging from 12% to 20%, offering even higher profit margins for investors who recruited additional members of their community. To corroborate his false claims of success, Menard forged official documentation: he showed prospective investors a fake ATM receipt claiming a personal bank balance of more than $8 million and a doctored trading screenshot that purported a net worth exceeding $1 million.
In total, Menard wrongfully acquired more than $600,000 from dozens of unsuspecting investors who were not aware he held no legal authorization to sell or trade securities. Instead of investing the funds on his victims’ behalf as promised, Menard diverted all the money into a personal trading account, where he accumulated massive losses through reckless, high-risk trades. A portion of the stolen funds was also used to fund Menard’s extravagant personal lifestyle, covering luxury international trips, high-end designer goods from brands including Gucci and Louis Vuitton, and even payouts to earlier investors as part of a classic ponzi-style scheme to keep the fraud undetected. Investigations later confirmed that the peak actual net value of Menard’s personal trading account between 2021 and 2022 was just $240,000, while the maximum his bank account ever held was $301,000—far less than the fraudulent figures he presented to victims.
Facing overwhelming evidence from the state investigation, Menard entered a guilty plea to charges of second-degree robbery, first-degree fraud and securities fraud at Nassau County Supreme Court back on April 17, 2026, in a bid to avoid a prison sentence. His sentencing, handed down last Thursday, handed down five years of probation and a permanent five-year ban from working in any capacity within the U.S. securities industry.
“Marc Henry Menard lied to hard-working New Yorkers and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat himself to lavish trips and luxury purchases,” Attorney General James stated in a press release following the conviction.
The multi-month investigation was led by the New York Attorney General’s Office of Financial Crimes Investigation, with support from the office’s Criminal Justice Division. Assistant Attorney General David Vargas led the investigative work, with analytical support from Senior Analyst Joseph Conniff under Chief Analyst Jayleen Garcia, and specialized accounting forensics completed by Lead Investigator Brenna Magruder, overseen by Chief Auditor Kristen Fabbri and Deputy Chief Auditor Sandy Bizzarro of the Criminal Audit Section. Detective Chief Brian Metz led criminal investigative efforts, with the entire operation overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jose Maldonado and supervised by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.