Morgan Hill man charged in $2.3 million investment scam
A Morgan Hill man has been charged with swindling people with promises of lucrative investments into businesses and real estate that turned out to be fake, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said Sayed Tamim Faquiryan, 45, befriended his victims in the Middle Eastern community before offering them opportunities to invest in a gas station, a car wash, or in other real estate investments. However, no such investments existed, the DA's Office said.
According to a press statement issued by the DA's Office, Faquiryan convinced four people to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars to his personal accounts, but never used any of the money to invest or returned the money when questioned.
The alleged thefts happened between January 2016 and December 2022. Farquiryan was arraigned on Jan. 31 and faces charges of grand theft, securities fraud, identity theft, passing fraudulent checks, filing a false document, along with white collar excessive taking enhancements.
Farquiryan is believed to have misappropriated more than $2.3 million from his four victims, the DA's Office said.
An alleged co-conspirator, 41-year-old Navid Azizian of Novato, was charged with six counts of grand theft and an excessive taking enhancement in connection with one of the victims.
Farquiryan is out on $250,000 bail and his next court date is April 11 for a plea hearing. If convicted, he could face prison time and be forced to pay restitution to all four victims.
"Our community should be safe from financial predators and financial predators should know they are not safe in our community," said District Attorney Jeff Rosen in a prepared statement.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact investigator Justin DeOliveira at 408-792-2420 or jdeoliveira@dao.sccgov.org.
