This afternoon Allen Roy Duquet, 70, charged in the State Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit investigation, Operation Ponzi Scheme, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay his victims back $5,074,750 in restitution. The Collier County resident pled no contest to charges of RICO, RICO Conspiracy, Aggravated White Collar Crime, and Money Laundering. Duquet’s prison sentence will be followed by 10 years of probation.
Duquet was arrested in 2019 when our investigation into the alleged multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme, identified more than two dozen financial crime victims. The complex scheme involves, in part, real estate and the misappropriation of escrow funds. Co-defendant Joseph Bernard Charde, of Marco Island, has a hearing set for August.
Assistant State Attorney J.D. Miller, Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit, and Assistant State Attorney Tino Cimato of the Economic Crimes Unit, are prosecuting the cases.