A Long Island man accused of running a Ponzi scheme is facing up to 45 years in prison, and his family is doing everything they can to get him behind bars. James Nicholson scammed nearly $150 million out of investors, including his own family. "I want him to go to jail for a long time," his cousin Jean Taliana told the Post. She says Nicholson scammed $10,000 from her and over $500,000 from his uncle, who can no longer afford to retire.
His company, Westfield Capital funds, collapsed last year after Bernie Madoff's scheme went public. His investors were afraid of losing their money and demanded it back, revealing his scheme. The SEC charged him with defrauding hundreds of investors, and he pleaded guilty last December. A series of letters from various investors was made public yesterday, attesting to his scam. One 82-year-old woman wrote, "I have no money in the bank. I needed this money to live, pay bills and buy food. I now need to calculate how much money I have to spend on food each month." Another woman wrote that even though Nicholas attempted to make his investors sympathize with him, he "failed to mention...that after he panicked, he bought a $25 [million] house in Southampton."
Taliana told the judge that her cousin needs to be held accountable for his actions, not just for scamming them but for hurting the family. "Now the family is broken," she wrote the judge. "Jimmy's parents, brother and sister along with their spouses and children have not come to a family function since his arrest....The only time we see them is in court."
