Federal judge jails ‘economic danger’
FORT LAUDERDALE – The former CEO of a Fort Lauderdale investment firm and other companies master-minded a 12-year scheme that allegedly bilked 150 people out of $19 million after convincing them to invest in gems, insurance products and self-storage units, federal authorities said Monday.
Daniel Joseph Touizer, a dual citizen of the United
States and Canada, started raising money in 2005, and was still soliciting prospective investors after FBI agents seized records in August from his offices in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Despite an expansive search, government auditors have been unable to locate $7 million, prosecutors told a federal magistrate.
His lawyers denied he is hiding assets.
Touizer, 44, of Aventura, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale. The judge called him a “significant economic danger to the community” and ordered him held without bail.
While the head of Wheat Capital Management and other enterprises, Touizer made false and fraudulent claims to find investors across the country to buy shares of stock and/or debt in his companies between January 2005 and September 2017, according to a government affidavit filed with the court and signed by an FBI agent.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz told the judge that the $7 million was withdrawn between 2010 and Touizer’s arrest last Wednesday.
“It’s a serious fraud,” Cruz said. “Mr. Touizer does have the gift of the gab.” Arraignment was set for Oct. 25. Seltzer said the prosecution painted a picture of a “serial fraudster” who “just rips off elderly people throughout the country.”
Even after the FBI issued search warrants, and as recently as last week, Touizer was meeting with prospective investors and soliciting money, Seltzer wrote in a 13-page detention order. The judge agreed with prosecutors that Touizer is a flight risk.
If convicted, Touizer would face a federal prison term of 14 years to 17 ½ years, authorities estimate.
Touizer told potential investors that his “unique business models” ensured a guaranteed return on investment, the government affidavit said. He also claimed that his companies had regulatory approval, that he didn’t personally take a salary and that investors’ money would be used for sales and marketing, according to the affidavit.
“In reality, the large majority of investor funds raised by Touizer were misappropriated by him for his co-conspirators’ personal use, and to further their fraud scheme,” the affidavit said.
In mid-August, FBI agents searched Wheat Capital’s offices on the sixth floor of the One Financial Plaza tower in Fort Lauderdale. According to the affidavit, agents hauled away documents outlining the company’s confidential business plan, marketing brochures and telephone sales scripts used by salespeople “to follow up on leads and close investors.”
Agents also discovered a socalled “Phone-pro’s Creed” displayed at various work stations.
In part, it read, “My phone and I are universal soldiers. We are the masters of our check writers. We are the saviors of my life.
“So be it, until there is no stone left unturned and the check clears,” it concluded.
Wheat’s website lists self-storage developments in Miami, Pembroke Park and Margate. The projects were due to be completed in 2018, according to the website.
Touizer also headed insurance agencies and a company that marketed and distributed “rare and valuable ‘colored’ gems,” according to the affidavit.
Investigators said Touizer lived a lavish lifestyle, but the court filings did not list any notable holdings such as luxury cars or real estate.
In court, authorities said they were concerned about him leaving the country because he was a frequent visitor to Israel since 2010, especially since his father died earlier this year. Prosecutors said he has a sister and a girlfriend who live in Israel, which he has visited between six and eight times over the last decade.
Touizer had purchased a plane ticket to fly to Israel prior to the agents’ search of his offices. He later re-booked his flight, planning to fly to Israel on Sept. 18, according to court testimony.
Though prosecutors expressed concerns about more than $660,000 in cash withdrawals made after the search, Touizer’s attorneys, Christopher Bruno and Jason Kreiss, said he transferred that money to another account he controlled to protect it from other people who had access to the money.
Prosecutors said they believe he started using the name Joseph or Joe, after years of being known as Daniel or Dan, to try to distance himself from poor reviews of his prior business activities.
The defense said Touizer began using the other name to honor his late father.
Bruno told the judge that Touizer is involved in legitimate commercial development and that construction has already begun on two of three of the Wheat storage facility projects that are under investigation.
Touizer has lived in South Florida for 23 years, in the same home since 2003, the defense said. And he has strong ties to local religious organizations and donates to food banks and other charitable organizations, they said. Three rabbis and several family members attended the court hearing.
“Mr. Touizer steadfastly maintains … that he does not have any assets secreted,” Bruno told the judge.