St. Petersburg man indicted on fraud charges
June 18, 2019 - St. Petersburg resident Marc Lawrence is one of two men facing securities fraud and wire fraud charges filed by federal prosecutors in New York. Lawrence and David Wagner, of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, are accused of a Ponzi-like scheme involving several corporate entities, collectively referred to as Downing, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. They are accused of soliciting more than $8 million from investors through misleading and false statement, then misappropriating a significant portion of those funds, the news release said.