Two charged in case of alleged $1 million fraud of pizza investors

Pizza File photo courtesy of Sammy s Woodfired Pizza Two people who allegedly took around million from investors who concluded they were buying stock options or franchises of a pizza restaurant chain have been charged in San Diego Superior Court with more than two dozen counts related to fraud or theft The casualties which included senior citizens and military veterans paid between to in hopes of becoming legitimate business owners or stockholders according to the California Attorney General s Office which reported multiple of the casualties had little to no business stake experience After getting the casualties money the defendants cut off communication with them prosecutors noted The alleged scheme ran from to A criminal complaint states the research was sparked after one of the casualties discovered in that one of the defendants leased an Aston Martin with a loan secured under his name After he shared what happened to law enforcement investigators discovered there were dozens of other casualties various of whom were previously unaware that they were casualties of fraud perpetrated by the defendants the complaint states The defendants Latashia Patrice McKinney who also goes by the last name of Robinson and Lae shaun Jacqueline McKinney were arrested in Florida and extradited to San Diego where they have since been arraigned Along with the pizza franchise scheme Latashia Patrice McKinney is additionally accused of taking in fraudulent loans from the Small Business Administration which were intended to help businesses recover from the COVID- pandemic California Attorney General Rob Bonta noted in a message The white- collar crime scheme perpetrated by these defendants stole money from Californians who were attempting to become entrepreneurs or make investments into business At the California Department of Justice we won t stand idly by if individuals cause financial harm to hardworking Californians to enrich themselves