$1.2M swindle brings former Manalapan stock broker 45 months in prison

A disgraced Manalapan stock broker has been sentenced to 45 months in federal prison for bilking 14 investors, some of them senior citizens, out of $1.2 million after he was permanently barred as a securities broker.

Anthony Mastroianni Jr., 49, was also sentenced for getting a fraudulent loan for more than $96,000 from a COVID emergency relief fund for distressed businesses.

In 2016, Mastroianni consented to being permanently barred as a securities broker by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark said.

From 2017 up until August 2022, he defrauded the 14 investors − one 82 years old and another 67 years old – by convincing them he could generate large profits for them through his company, Global Business Development & Consulting Corp., according to a complaint. Rather than investing the money, he used it for rent, car payments, credit card bills and cash withdrawals, the complaint said.