Arizona husband, wife claim family friend defrauded them of over $1 million in investment scam

PHOENIX — A husband and wife submitted a report that a family friend defrauded them of an excess of $1 million, authorities announced Saturday.

The couple, who lives in the Village of Oak Creek in Sedona, said 32-year-old Nicholas Silvestri traded fake gold and silver bars to pay for the bullion investments. Silvestri had been helping them invest in gold and silver bullion over the past few years, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

The claim was filed to YCSO deputies from the Eastern Area Patrol on June 29.

YCSO detectives were granted a search warrant into Silvestri’s residence in the Village of Oak Creek on July 11, where they located several fake gold bars and real gold coins the Sedona couple had initially traded him.

The YCSO Criminal Investigation Bureau then discovered a second victim of Silvestri on July 8, who had bought an estimated $100,000 of what was also determined to be illegitimate gold and silver.

Additionally, further investigation revealed Silvestri had been selling about $80,000 of fraudulent IRA and Roth investments, along with about $50,000 in fake Cryto currency investments.

“This suspect defrauded numerous people and may have continued to do so were it not for the diligence of our deputies and detectives,” Sheriff David Rhodes said in a press release. “The arrest of this man who preyed on the trust of others is not only a success for those whose property we were able to recover, but for those who may have become victims in the future.”

Silvestri was arrested and charged with two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices and two counts of theft.

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