Two men that own a recruiting start-up have been accused of defrauding a childhood friend that liquidated her retirement savings to invest in their business venture, authorities said Friday. The civil enforcement action filed by the state Bureau of Securities within the Attorney General’s Office alleges misdealings by Bowmo’s chairman and president Michael Lakshin of Fair Lawn and CEO and co-founder Edward Aizman of Brooklyn, New York. Authorities allege that Lakshin and Aizman used “fraud and deception” to convince one of Lakshin’s childhood friends to cash in her retirement account and invest in their start-up.
But authorities said most of the money the woman invested went to personal expenses such as a stay at a Cape Cod bed and breakfast and purchases at luxury designer stores such as Brunelli Cucinelli. “The defendants callously used a personal connection to lure an unsuspecting victim into a money grab scheme disguised as an investment opportunity,” said Cari Fais, Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “Our lawsuit seeks to hold them accountable for their unlawful conduct, claw back their ill-gotten gains, require them to make the victim whole, and prevent them from defrauding anyone else.
” Between April and August of 2020, Lakshin and Aizman offered and sold at least $84,681 of Bowmo securities to at least one New Jersey investor, authorities said. Lakshin and Aizman allegedly told the investor that her money would earn a significantly higher .