His longtime business partner is facing charges of swindling investors out of millions of dollars. On Sunday morning, a known business associate of the hugely popular morning show host DJ Envy is in hot water.
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Cesar Pina was arrested by federal agents and charged with wire fraud, accused of defrauding would-be investors in connection with an alleged real estate Ponzi scheme.
Pina was often featured on the massively successful radio show "The Breakfast Club" with DJ Envy, who has not been charged and maintains his innocence.
"Oh, I just want to say this on close. I've never I've never stole anything from anybody. And, I'll just leave it at that," DJ Envy said.
The well-known DJ, whose real name is Raashaun Casey, often advertised his real estate business with Pina, also known online as FlippingNJ, on the iHeart radio show that's said to reach over 4 million listeners on nearly 100 stations across the country.
"We're here in one of the properties that we own, this is 24 units, six storefronts. And, we just want to go over some of the things with rentals," DJ Envy said.
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According to court documents, "Pina and his business partner, a well-known disc jockey and radio personality, operated a company that conducted real estate seminars around the country. Together, they used [DJ Envy's] celebrity to promote various real estate enterprises that Pina controlled."
"He also very aggressively and vocally promoted Mr. Pina as his business partner on social media," lawyer Alexander Schachtel said.
Court documents described Pina as far back as 2017 accepting money "from individual investors... for the alleged purchase, remodel and sale of specific real estate projects," often promising 20% to 45% returns on investments within five months.
Instead, he used "new victim investments to pay off prior investors and cover personal expenditures," in all, defrauding "dozens of victims of millions of dollars."
Massimo F. D'Angelo, DJ Envy's attorney, insisted that the radio host did nothing wrong
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"DJ Envy is a victim, just like the others. He's actually a double victim, because now there's a bunch of false reporting. And again, you know, an element of sensationalism that's attached to this simply because of his celebrity figure," D'Angelo said.
DJ Envy claimed he never made any money from the business venture.
"I didn't see a dollar of return. I do nothing but try to uplift people and show people a different way to the business model," DJ Envy said.
Pina has entered a plea of not guilty, and was released on $1 million bond.