A retired UCLA student-athlete was imprisoned to more than 17 years imprisonment for defrauding cannabis vape investors out of over $45 million and then using the cash to finance his extravagant life.
David Joseph Bunevacz, 53, of Calabasas, was imprisoned on Wednesday to 210 months in jail for defrauding investors who thought their funds would be utilized to fund cannabis vaping products companies.
Bunevacz was a retired UCLA decathlete who contested for the Philippines national team, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Officials claim Bunevacz used the investor funds to fund his extravagant lifestyle, which included buying a house in Calabasas, taking countless vacations, and acquiring expensive products, horses, and other items.
According to legal papers, Bunevacz established deceptive business enterprises claiming to be “engaged in the cannabis market and the selling of vape pens that included the cannabis products like THC and CBD oil.”
He forged account statements, invoices, and sales orders to give investors the impression of accomplishment and the requirement for investment finance.
Bunevacz received $45,227,266 in funding from over 100 investors. Law enforcement agencies said he “preyed on people who thought he was their ally.”
Authorities said he set up numerous shell businesses to “develop the false impression that his companies were involved in lawful operations.” To conceal his ownership of those false entities, he listed others as company executives, among them his stepdaughter.
“The sense of infringement, the attack on personal integrity, and the long-term trauma caused by [Bunevacz] are strongly evocative of the damage generally linked to violent criminal acts,” prosecutors stated “. “And, with the well more than hundred victims, [Bunevacz] perpetrated these atrocities on an unprecedented scale.”
Bunevacz was sentenced to prison and compelled to pay $35,267,851 in compensation by a federal jury.
