Swindling salesman convicted in the U.S. for a large Toronto investment fraud
Another swindling salesman who was ripping people off in a large Toronto investment fraud has been sent to prison in the United States, nearly ending prosecutions against a rapacious band of coloured diamond conmen.
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Edward Rosenberg used the alias Ed Rose when working the phones in a telemarketing boiler room on Toronto's Finch Avenue West. The salesmen there for Paragon International Wealth Management, Inc. defrauded more than $21 million from hundreds of victims in Canada and the United States.
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Details on the great Paragon swindle and the crooked life of one of its notorious Toronto fraudsters, Jack Kronis, is the focus of a long investigative feature in National Post published last summer, called Jack of Diamonds.
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Rosenberg was unaware he was wanted in the United States and was surprised when he was arrested at the border in Buffalo, said Mitchell Worsoff, his Toronto lawyer. U.S. authorities had not made any move to arrest or extradite Rosenberg over the years while he was secretly wanted.
Rosenberg was among those originally charged with fraud by Toronto police in 2018 for Paragon's diamond swindles. Court heard that it stretched from 2013 until a Toronto police raid in 2018.
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Charges against the men were later dropped in Ontario when the case was instead turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute, because many of the victims were Americans.
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While U.S. prosecutors proceeded with indictments against James Gagliardini, Michael Shumak, Jack Kronis, and Antonio Palazzolo — all Toronto area men who had agreed to plead guilty — Rosenberg was not prepared plead guilty to the allegations. After a voluntary interview with the FBI in Cleveland in 2022, Rosenberg was allowed to return to Canada without charge or restriction.
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The other Paragon men were told to surrender to U.S. authorities, which they did.
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Nobody knew that another indictment was secretly filed under seal against Rosenberg and another man in November 2022.
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At Rosenberg's next court appearance, his U.S. lawyer told the judge that Rosenberg was looking to resolve his case quickly. In courtrooms, that's usually code for negotiating a plea deal and that was confirmed in April when Rosenberg changed his plea. He pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
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