Long Island adviser Vincent Camarda pleads guilty to $138M Ponzi — 430 elderly clients' savings funneled into a son's drive-thru coffee startup

He Told 430 Elderly Clients Their Money Was Safe. He Was Putting It in His Son's Coffee Shop.

Vincent Camarda ran a financial advisory practice on Long Island. His pitch was straightforward: safe, low-risk investments for retirees and near-retirees. Over several years, 430 clients trusted him with a combined $138 million.

Where the Money Went

Camarda pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges. According to the charging documents, the money did not go into diversified, low-risk instruments. It went into two places: a single mining venture, and a drive-thru coffee startup operated by his son. Camarda took $2.97 million in kickbacks from the ventures while his clients' statements showed fabricated account values.

The Victims

The 430 clients were predominantly elderly. Many had no other retirement savings. When the scheme collapsed, the losses were total — the mining venture failed, the coffee chain had no meaningful assets to liquidate. Court-ordered restitution exceeds $160 million, a figure that reflects both the principal and the fraudulent returns clients had been shown on paper.

The Mechanics

Camarda's scheme followed the classic Ponzi pattern: early investors received small distributions drawn from new investor capital, creating the appearance of a functioning portfolio. The fabricated statements did the rest. By the time any single client tried to withdraw a meaningful sum, the underlying assets were gone. Holland & Knight's fraud enforcement review cited the case as a reminder that Ponzi exposure in the advisory sector has not declined despite post-Madoff regulatory reforms.