Great Neck resident Jeffrey Soberman Parket pleaded guilty to obtaining more than $65 million from a Ponzi lending scheme that ran from 2016-2021 on Wednesday, according to officials from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Parket, 59, was a former bond trader and the principal of several hedge funds, officials said. The Great Neck resident received the funds from individual and institutional lenders, falsifying assets and modifying statements from banks and brokerages, according to officials.

His actions, officials said, resulted in more than $37 million in reported losses for victims. He allegedly obtained the funds from victims by misrepresenting his financial situation and pledging false collateral, according to officials.

“Parket traded on his reputation as a respected financier and fabricated paper assets to defraud lenders of millions of dollars in loans that they never would have made if not for his lies and the sophisticated ruses he used to support those lies,” said Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “His scheme cost some of his victims everything they had.  He will now be held accountable for his deceit.”

Officials, in 2022, said Parket received $50 million in loans from investors in New York, Florida, Minnesota, Utah and South Carolina. He was arrested on Feb. 11, 2022.

Parket pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution and one count of bank fraud, officials said. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.

Officials said Parket told the individuals that he needed short-term financing for real estate investments and allegedly convinced family members to provide him with funds that, he said, would be used for other investments.

Rather than investing family members’ life savings, officials said, Parket pledged all his assets as collateral and used those funds to repay other lenders. 

He promised to repay investors with interest but used some loans to pay off other loans and day trading debts. Officials also said Parket falsely represented his net worth and ownership in other investment accounts to the individuals via emails, phone conversations, in-person meetings and other documents.

Parket previously acknowledged owing $5.5 million to lenders in other cases filed in New York state courts.

One of the individuals from Minnesota whom Parket obtained funds from claimed to being defrauded of a $4 million loan after Parket listed a false net worth of $27.5 million, claiming jewelry worth more than $1 million.