Man Pleads Not Guilty in $1.4 Million Fleecing of Laguna Beach Victim

Apartments in Santa Ana, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2021. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

SANTA ANA, Calif.—A 39-year-old man pleaded not guilty Dec. 20 in an alleged investment scheme that defrauded an elderly Laguna Beach man out of $1.4 million.

Investigators alleged in court papers that Antonio Michele Velasco conspired with Thomas Martin Green in an “elaborate fraud scheme to entice [the victim] into an illusory investment of purchasing defaulted bail bonds.”