Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal announced the arrest of 63-year-old John J. Farina, of River Vale, on theft by failure to make required disposition of property received and bad check related charges.
In December 2015, members of the BCPO White Collar Crimes Unit received a theft complaint from a German-based trading company against an individual identified as Farina who operated The Icarus Group, Inc., a business consulting company with a commercial address in Wood-Ridge.
An investigation into Farina's activities revealed that in November 2014, he entered into an agreement with the German trading company to act as the broker on the purchase of a used commercial printing machine. As a result of the agreement, the German trading company wired $215,000.00 in three installments to Farina's business account. He received the wired monies, but did not complete the purchase of the commercial printer. He then entered into an agreement to return the money in installments to the German trading company, but failed to do so.
Farina issued one check for $80,000.00 from a personal checking account to repay the debt but that check was returned due to insufficient funds.
According to officials, on August 26th, Farina was charged on a summons issued by the Bergen County Central Municipal Court. He was then served with a copy of the summons and released pending his first appearance.
Farina was charged with one count of violating N.J.S.A. 2C:20-9, Theft by Failure to Make Required Disposition of Property Received, a 2nd degree crime based on the value of the property being in an amount greater than $75,000, and one count of violating N.J.S.A. 2C:21-5, Issuing a Bad Check, a 3rd degree crime.
The complaint was issued on a summons and he was released on his own recognizance.