Leor Moshe, 43, of Toms River, New Jersey, was an active member of the Orthodox Jewish community who turned the trust of that community into the engine of a $47 million fraud. Through his company, Capital Funding ASAP LLC, Moshe told fellow community members, most of whom shared his faith and moved in the same social and religious circles, that their money would be used to fund short-term loans to small businesses, a form of merchant financing that would generate significant fixed returns. Some investors received written agreements stating that Capital Funding specialized in merchant financing and that their money would be used for no other purpose, and emphasizing that they were relying on Moshe’s expertise in short-term lending. Between approximately November 2019 and June 2023, Moshe raised approximately $47 million from more than 87 investors. He did not use the money to fund business loans. He misappropriated more than $11 million for personal expenses including gambling debts, home renovations, mortgage payments, and car loans, and used more than $850,000 to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors. On August 13, 2026, the SEC charged Moshe and two associates in the District of New Jersey, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced parallel criminal charges the same day. Moshe pleaded guilty to wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch in Trenton, with sentencing scheduled for December 16, 2026. Affinity fraud that exploits a shared community has recurred across major cases, including the King Perry Ponzi run by Christopher Parris and John Piccarreto and the faith-and-patriotism pitch of RAD Diversified.
The SEC’s complaint charges Moshe with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and a conduct-based injunction against him. The complaint also charges two fellow Toms River residents, Jacob Goldman and Isaac Odes, with violating the broker registration provisions of the Securities Exchange Act. Thomas P. Smith, Jr., Associate Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, said the defendants promised some investors returns in excess of thirty percent, which he noted falls squarely into the “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” category, and described the operation as a Jersey Shore triumvirate that exploited community relationships to enrich themselves.
Returns of 9% to 53% Promised on Loans That Were Never Funded
The investment Moshe sold was designed to sound both safe and lucrative. He told investors their capital would finance short-term loans to small businesses, an asset class that sounds concrete, asset-backed, and low-risk, and he promised annual returns ranging from approximately 9% to as much as 53% depending on the investment. The written agreements some investors received reinforced the impression of a legitimate, specialized lending business, stating that Capital Funding specialized in merchant financing and that the funds would be used for no other purpose. That specificity, the promise that the money would be used for no other purpose, is precisely what made the misappropriation a fraud rather than a failed business. Moshe was not authorized to use the money for anything but business loans, and he used it for gambling and home renovations. The returns at the high end of the range, north of 50%, were the kind of figure that should signal danger, but in the context of a trusted community member vouching for his own expertise, the warning signs were easier to overlook.
The reality behind the promised returns was a classic Ponzi structure. Rather than generating returns from actual merchant lending, Moshe used money from new investors to make payments to earlier investors, creating the appearance that the investments were performing. Those Ponzi payments, totaling more than $850,000, sustained the illusion of a working business and encouraged existing investors to stay in and new investors to join. The scheme could continue only as long as new money arrived faster than existing investors sought to withdraw. When that flow could no longer be sustained, the scheme collapsed, and investors from Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio lost more than $25 million.
$11M Taken for Gambling Debts, Home Renovations, and Car Loans
The personal use of investor money is what transforms the Capital Funding story from a failed lending business into a deliberate fraud. Of the $47 million Moshe raised, he diverted more than $11 million to himself. According to federal prosecutors, that money went to pay gambling debts, home renovations, mortgage payments, and car loans. The gambling debts stand out as the emblematic detail: investors who were told their money would fund carefully underwritten short-term business loans were, in substantial part, covering the personal gambling losses of the man they trusted. FBI Newark Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy stated that dozens of victims placed their trust in Moshe’s promises and that he admitted using their money to pay off his gambling habit, among other things. U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer said Moshe turned the trust of his own religious community into a tool for fraud, exploiting personal relationships to fuel a massive Ponzi scheme.
Two Unregistered Recruiters Who Brought in $23M From the Same Community
Moshe did not raise all $47 million alone. According to the SEC, he paid two fellow Toms River residents, Jacob Goldman and Isaac Odes, to recruit investors, and neither was registered as a broker-dealer or associated with any registered broker-dealer. Goldman and Odes solicited more than $23 million from at least 25 investors, negotiated investment terms, and facilitated the collection of funds. Their role illustrates how affinity fraud propagates through a community: rather than relying solely on the orchestrator’s own relationships, the scheme recruited additional trusted community members to extend its reach, each bringing the operation to their own circle of contacts. The broker registration requirements that Goldman and Odes are charged with violating exist precisely to ensure that people soliciting investments from the public are registered, supervised, and accountable. By operating as unregistered recruiters within the Orthodox Jewish community, they extended the fraud’s reach to investors who trusted them personally. The SEC’s guidance on affinity fraud warns specifically about schemes that spread through trusted members of tight-knit religious and ethnic communities.
A Guilty Plea, a 20-Year Maximum, and a December Sentencing
The criminal case moved to resolution quickly. Moshe pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge before Judge Kirsch, with sentencing scheduled for December 16, 2026. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross loss to victims or gain to the defendant, whichever is greatest. The criminal information described the scheme as running from June 2019 to June 2023 and affecting more than 97 victims, a somewhat larger count than the 87 investors identified in the SEC’s civil complaint, reflecting the different thresholds and methods the two proceedings use to count affected parties. The SEC’s civil action against all three defendants proceeds in parallel, seeking disgorgement, penalties, and injunctions, including a conduct-based injunction against Moshe that would restrict his future business activities. The Department of Justice emphasized the abuse of community trust as the defining feature of the case.
Conclusion
Leor Moshe raised $47 million from more than 87 members of his own Orthodox Jewish community by promising that their money would fund short-term business loans at returns of 9% to 53% and would be used for no other purpose. Instead he ran a Ponzi scheme, paid early investors with later investors’ money, and took more than $11 million for gambling debts, home renovations, and car loans. He paid two unregistered recruiters, Jacob Goldman and Isaac Odes, to bring in $23 million more from the same community. Investors across seven states lost more than $25 million. Moshe pleaded guilty to wire fraud and faces up to 20 years at his December sentencing. The agreements said the money would be used for no other purpose. It was used to pay his gambling debts.
