Sylvein William Maximilian D\u2019Habsburg XVII<\/a>, 48, has been accused of taking more than $5.9 million from victims over the course of several years. It was all under the guise of investing in his two tech companies, prosecutors wrote in the plea deal, with D\u2019Habsburg making several claims including that his technology could detect Covid-19 infection based on video. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAt one point in 2020, D\u2019Habsburg convinced a victim to wire $224,378.43 to his bank account in the name of BAI intelligence, prosecutors wrote in the plea deal reached with the defendant. He then used the money to buy luxury cars like a vintage Rolls Royce and rare antiques, court documents said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
D\u2019Habsburg, who\u2019s also of Filipino descent and changed his name from Sylvein Scalleone, is expected to face a maximum of 20 years in prison, according to the agreement filed last week for the federal felony fraud charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement to NBC News, D\u2019Habsburg\u2019s attorney Bryan Thomas said that his client \u201cvehemently denies\u201d running a Ponzi scheme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMr. D\u2019Habsburg has admitted to making false statements regarding the financial status of the business and that is what he has accepted responsibility,\u201d Bryan Thomas, D\u2019Habsburg\u2019s attorney, said in a statement before referencing D\u2019Habsburg\u2019s company BAI Intelligence, which is a company focused on experimental Covid-19 testing. \u201cHowever, BAI technology is not a Ponzi scheme and he has not plead guilty to any charges regarding the performance of his company.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Licelle Cobrador, executive director of the Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund, called the allegations \u201cmind-boggling,\u201d given D\u2019Habsburg\u2019s shared background with his victims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor Filipinos, when you identify as another Filipino, there\u2019s an automatic affinity. They would just be more trusting,\u201d Cobrador said, adding that the allegations suggest D\u2019Habsburg \u201ctook advantage of that bond.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the plea agreement, the wire fraud started back around January 2018 and continued through at least June 2023. D\u2019Habsburg appeared to target fellow Filipinos, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office of the Central District of California said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
D\u2019Habsburg hired recruiters to identify potential investors from the community for his business Wild Rabbit Technologies, in addition to BAI Intelligence, and marketed alleged artificial intelligence technology, prosecutors wrote in the plea deal. D\u2019Habsburg then invited these potential investors to attend demonstrations of the technology, saying it could predict the future and detect Covid-19 infection based on video, among several other claims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the presentations, D\u2019Habsburg would allege that he\u2019d already received $500 million in investments from big names including Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Joel Osteen and the Harvard University endowment, the plea agreement said. Additionally, D\u2019Habsburg would claim that former secretaries of state, Mike Pompeo and Hillary Clinton, had consulted with him about his AI technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While he told potential investors that their funds would go toward helping further his research, hiring personnel and obtaining patents, the plea agreement says that D\u2019Habsburg spent the money for personal use, according to the plea deal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond the two vintage Rolls Royces, D\u2019Habsburg also splurged on a pair of Italian-carved Giltwood thrones from the 1800s, a Venetian baroque-style throne chair from around 1890, paired Italian marble columns that date back to the 12th to 13th century, along with high-end clothing and other valuables, the plea deal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cobrador said that D\u2019Habsburg\u2019s alleged targeting of parishioners is chilling, given the immense trust that many Filipino Americans have in those they worship with. The church, Cobrador said, occupies a critical space, particularly among immigrants. In the Philippines, Cobrador said, the church often helps provide basic services that the government in the developing country often cannot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When people immigrate to the U.S., they bring along their perception of churches as safe spaces to ask for help, guidance and community. So for many immigrants, she said, their fellow parishioners are often whom they turn to for networking, jobs or to find housing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the States, if they\u2019re Filipino American, it\u2019s less intimidating to approach people who are in church than approach people who are in government or other nonprofits,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are always ready to help. But you can see how that environment could be taken advantage of by people who are unscrupulous.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
D\u2019Habsburg is expected to enter his formal guilty plea in the coming weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man in the San Fernando Valley of California has agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud, after prosecutors accused him of running a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme targeting local Filipino community members, including senior churchgoers. Sylvein William Maximilian D\u2019Habsburg XVII, 48, has been accused of taking more than $5.9 million from victims over the course […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[1189,1350,25714,31561],"class_list":["post-35724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-california","tag-man","tag-scam","tag-wire-fraud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35726,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35724\/revisions\/35726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}