A former monitor and discipline star who supposedly pivoted to a profession in enterprise was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in federal jail on Monday for allegedly defrauding hashish trade traders out of greater than $45 million, the Division of Justice introduced.
David Bunevacz, 53, is accused of deceiving traders — together with some who reportedly confronted extreme monetary instability — into paying for his personal holidays, horses, designer clothes and even his household's house in Calabasas, which authorities described as "luxurious" in a information launch. Bunevacz is alleged to have collected cash from the alleged fraud victims beneath the guise of entrepreneurship, telling them that their investments could be used to fund firms advertising hashish vape pens, in line with the Justice Division.
His alleged scheme dates again to no less than 2010, authorities mentioned, when Bunevacz started to determine enterprise entities with names like CB Holding Group Corp. and Caesarbrutus LLC. Bunevacz allegedly claimed that the businesses had been concerned within the hashish trade, and particularly the sale of vape pens containing hashish merchandise like CBS oil and THC. He additionally purportedly shared false info with no less than one investor about his relationship with a Chinese language producer of disposable vape pens that had been non-toxic and high-quality.
In the meantime, Bunevacz can also be accused of registering shell firms, a few of which borrowed names from authentic firms, so as "to create the false look that his firms had been engaged in authentic enterprise actions," in line with the Justice Division. He apparently took care to distance himself from a number of the shell entities, itemizing different individuals, together with his stepdaughter, as their company officers as a substitute of himself.
The federal courtroom submitting means that Bunevacz raised upwards of $45.2 million in fraudulent investments, which got here from greater than 100 victims, the Justice Division mentioned. U.S. District Choose Dale S. Fischer, who sentenced Bunevacz to 210 months in federal jail, claimed he's accountable for losses amounting to greater than $35 million.
"The sense of violation, the assault on private dignity, and the lasting trauma [Bunevacz] has precipitated are very a lot paying homage to the hurt sometimes related to violent crimes," prosecutors mentioned in a sentencing memo, in line with the Justice Division. "And, with effectively over 100 victims, [Bunevacz] precipitated these harms at a scale not often seen."
Bunevacz was a profitable decathlete at UCLA and went on to compete in monitor and discipline occasions with the Filipino nationwide workforce. He and his spouse, Jessica Rodriguez, a Filipino actor and mannequin, share three youngsters.
Bunevacz already had one felony conviction for illegal sale of securities in 2017, in line with the Justice Division. After his preliminary arrest in April, Bunevacz pleaded responsible in July to 1 rely of securities fraud and one rely of wire fraud. He stays in federal custody.