DJ Envy visits SiriusXM Studio on April 20, 2022 in New York City.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

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Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

DJ Envy visits SiriusXM Studio on April 20, 2022 in New York City.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Popular radio character DJ Envy of New York-based Power 105.1 FM has come underneath hearth for his connection to accused actual property funding fraudster Cesar Pina.

DJ Envy has not been arrested or charged with any crimes, however he’s being sued by no less than 9 events who stated that with out Envy’s vouching, they by no means would have been scammed by Pina.

Victims of the alleged scheme stated they have been duped into believing actual property investments by way of Pina have been legit based mostly on The Breakfast Club co-host’s endorsement.

DJ Envy, born RaaShaun Casey, had for years partnered with Pina – who goes by Flipping_NJ on social media – to host actual property funding seminars throughout the nation and infrequently promoted Pina as an actual property genius on the syndicated morning radio program.

Earlier this month, the New Jersey District Attorney’s office arrested Pina, accusing him of committing a multi-million greenback actual property funding Ponzi scheme courting again to 2017.

“The defendant ran a fraudulent scheme”

“Pina exploited celebrity status and social media to develop a devoted following of potential victims,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in the complaint.

Pina, the workplace stated, would assure lenders big payoffs for his or her investments in buying and reworking initiatives. Then, as soon as he had the cash in hand, he would spend that cash as an alternative on paying off previous money owed and private expenditures.

“Plain and simple, the defendant ran a fraudulent scheme,” Tammy Tomlins, Special Agent in Charge of IRS – Criminal Investigation Newark Field Office, stated in an announcement. “They falsely represented the nature of their business and lied about potential investment returns to bilk unsuspecting victims out of millions.”

Envy was additionally not directly named within the grievance, with the district lawyer’s workplace writing:

“Pina partnered with a celebrity disc jockey and radio personality to conduct real estate seminars around the country. Through these seminars, self-promotional efforts, and other marketing strategies, Pina developed a significant social media following.”

Pina is reportedly now out on a $1 million bond and isn’t allowed to depart the state of New Jersey. If convicted of wire fraud, he faces 20 years in jail and a positive of $250,000.

“These are working class folks. These are not wealthy individuals,” stated Alexander Schachtel, the lawyer representing 9 claimants towards DJ Envy, Pina and others they accuse of being in on the scheme.

“Some of these people lost their life savings.”

Schachtel stated that by attaching his identify to Pina’s and introducing the accused rip-off artist to The Breakfast Club’s vast viewers, Envy has a accountability to see the victims recompensed.

“He needs to realize that when you hold yourself out and you tell members of the public who look up to you, who listen to your radio show, who go to seminars that you co-host with Cesar Pina, that hear you on social media, on the radio, in person, describe yourself as Cesar’s business partner and tout Cesar Pina’s real estate expertise and otherwise endorse and boost and hold yourself out to people as Cesar’s partner, that you are attaching yourself to Cesar as as a matter of law,” he stated.

Schachtel famous {that a} disproportionate variety of those that stated they have been duped are Black and Latino males – The Breakfast Club’s core demographic.

Envy tried to distance himself from claims of impropriety

Since Pina’s arrest, Envy has tried to distance himself from any claims of impropriety.

“Cesar – if he took money, I wasn’t privy to it, nor did I even know,” Envy stated on a latest episode of The Breakfast Club.

Envy stated that he was talking towards his lawyer’s recommendation and that the explanation he started internet hosting actual property seminars was to “uplift [his] community” and to show others learn how to attain generational wealth.

Envy, actually, in keeping with his lawyer, fell prey to Pina’s schemes as a lot as anybody.

“DJ Envy is a victim himself,” stated Envy’s lawyer, Massimo F. D’Angelo.

D’Angelo stated that Envy invested $500,000 in a parcel of actual property with Pina, on which he by no means noticed a return.

“In fact, he’s a double victim,” D’Angelo continued, saying that along with shedding his funding, Envy has been topic to dangerous actors who’re “just trying to make a profit and sensationalize the case by trying to attach his name to it.”

The assertion that Envy is a sufferer within the scheme – not a perpetrator – is offensive to these suing, stated Derik Deangelo.

Claimant asks why DJ Envy did not alert the general public till the feds obtained concerned

“That’s just the wolf playing victim,” Deangelo stated.

Deangelo is without doubt one of the 9 claimants the lawyer, Schachtel, is representing within the go well with that features Envy.

Deangelo stated that final 12 months he took out a $100,000 mortgage towards his residence to take a position with Pina. It was someday this summer season that he realized he had been scammed.

“It’s kind of taken away my life,” Deangelo stated.

In order to pay again the mortgage, Deangelo stated, he needed to unload the automobiles he had been utilizing to kickstart a small rental enterprise. And if Envy had already confronted shedding cash with Pina, Deangelo wonders why the radio host didn’t alert the general public till the feds obtained concerned.

“Now you’re playing victim because you see all the lawsuits flying around. Where was all this information a couple of years ago,” Deangelo stated.

“Maybe if you played victim a year ago and said, ‘Cesar owes me $500,000,’ I would have never invested with Cesar.”