Shreveport baw pleads not guilty in $96 million investment scam

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A Shreveport man accused of scamming more than $96 million from investors and financial institutions has posted an unsecured appearance bond in the amount of $500,000 to remain free pending resolution of his case, according to documents made public Tuesday morning.

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deBerardinis is accused in a federal grand jury indictment of falsely representing himself from 2008 to 2016 to obtain more than $96 million from investors in Shreveport, across Louisiana and elsewhere. He allegedly operated numerous business entities and represented himself as part of the petroleum industry.

The grand jury indicted deBerardinis on Jan. 25.

Some allegations in the indictment include that deBerardinis:

Hired a professional make-up artist to disguise him as an Orthodox Jew in an attempt to obtain investor funds from a New York-based private equity group.

Created a fake check in the amount of $80 million from First Tennessee Bank made payable to one of his companies and falsely claimed to investors it had come from a previous investment.

 Falsely claimed to have obtained an international shippers’ license.

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