In November, the federal prosecutor's office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania reported that 40-year-old naturalized US citizen Stanislav Bril, aka Stan Bril, aka Slava Bril, pleaded guilty there to fraud and money laundering. I write his last name with a soft sign, because in the former Soviet Moldova, where Stan is from, it was written and pronounced exactly like that.
Arrested on February 8 last year, Bril was released on bail at the same time and on October 30, 2023, in Philadelphia federal court, he confirmed to Judge Gene Pratter that he had committed three mail frauds, eleven times wire fraud, five times bank fraud, and five times money laundering. This is money, which is collectively called a “Ponzi scam” or “financial pyramid”. Such “pyramids” operate on one principle - their founders open or invent a corporation, promise its potential investors fabulous profits and at first pay it out of the deposits of previous investors, after which the pyramid collapses, leaving its founders with a jackpot and its investors with their noses.
It is known that Stan, and then Vyacheslav Bril, was born in Soviet Moldova into a Jewish family, which in 1990, when Slava was 7 years old, took the usual “high route” on an Israeli call through Vienna and Rome to the United States, where they were received by the HIAS organization ( Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) - Society for helping Jewish immigrants. The family spent two weeks in Austria, and four months in Italy. In addition to Slavik, the family included his older brother Leonid, who is now 48 years old, and sister Bella, who is 47. In Italy, where the Briley family, apparently, lived in Ostia or Ladispoli near Rome, the father repaired bicycles, and the sons washed car windows at intersections, what we call “squidgies”. In America, the Brileys first came to the city of Savannah, Georgia, where, according to Stan, “they were the fifth Russian family,” that is, families of Jews from the Soviet Union. Everything went as usual, his brother and sister went to school, his father first worked as a meat packer, then as a car mechanic, and his mother helped the elderly and was a translator for new arrivals.
After graduating from school, Stan Brill entered Brooklyn College in New York, and from there to Phoenix University in Arizona. He then moved to Philadelphia, where he worked and gained experience in the mortgage industry. He now lives in the Pennsylvania town of Jamison, 30 miles from Philadelphia, with his 37-year-old wife Albina Shvartsman and their two children, 7-year-old Ethan and 6-year-old Eliana. During the financial crisis of 2008, Stanislav realized how difficult it was to get such a mortgage and realized how profitable it was to be able to get it approved. In 2009, 26-year-old Bril founded the company MCG (Mortgage Consultant Group), while completing his education at Salem International University in West Virginia. His company was involved in loans in the fields of real estate, construction and business, and most of its success, according to him, was due to its ability to work with any clients. “We don’t have any special requirements,” he explained, “because each case is different and different.” There is no great wisdom in this approach, and others from a shoemaker to a neurosurgeon may say the same, but as a result, Brilya's MCG has become a leader in commercial finance, handling more than $5 billion in transactions across its six US offices and its Barcelona offices, London, Sofia and, of course, Chisinau.
The federal prosecutor's office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has a different opinion, and there they consider Bril's unique approach to clients to be another financial pyramid that cost them millions of dollars. As the head of this prosecutor's office, Jacqueline Romero, said, her department, along with law enforcement partners, "will continue to hold fraudsters like Stanislav Bril accountable for their scams that affect us all, from investors to taxpayers." And Richard Langham, head of the FBI's Philadelphia office, added that "Over the course of 10 years, Bril committed several scams, defrauding investors, the bank and the government, but fortunately, the FBI and our partners know how to bring criminals like him to justice." " The head of the investigative department of the federal tax service IRS, Yuri Krutiy, said in the same press release from the prosecutor's office that his department is proud to assist in the investigation and is ready to continue it in the fight against white-collar crimes.
From the charges brought against Briel, it follows that from October 2011 to August 2014, the MCG company was such a “pyramid scheme”, receiving more than a million dollars from investors. To do this, Stan Bril invited investors and convinced them to invest money in this company, which would issue mortgages for real estate and construction projects at short-term and high interest rates. Bril promised investors regular payments of their contractually agreed share of the profits, but instead spent their money on himself, his family, gambling in casinos, and, of course, paying the promised profits to some investors. From October 2018 to June 2021, Bril fraudulently obtained a $750,000 loan from a Scranton, Pennsylvania bank for another company he created, The Bril Group, Inc. (TBG). To secure this loan, he misrepresented to the bank about TBG's financial position, the number of its employees, and the purpose of the loan. Having received permission, he spent part of the loan on purchases not authorized by the bank, and laundered a significant part through various bank accounts.
From April 2020 to March 2021, Stanislav Bril fraudulently received more than $6.7 million under the federal Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Programs (PPP). To do this, he again lied about the state of his companies, in particular by stating that TBG, MCG LOAN, and SAB Services corporations had several hundred employees, when in fact there were only one each. With this money, he transferred money to crypto platforms and to a real estate registration company to buy a condominium in Los Angeles, and laundered part of it. When Bril began to miss paying investors their contracted share of profits, he lied to them that he was waiting for electronic transfers or checks sent to him by mail, and once explained that he was dissatisfied with his bank and was looking for another, and another time he referred to ill health and family troubles. “When investors inquired about whether there were complaints, lawsuits or other legal claims against him,” the indictment concluded, “he lied that everything was fine, knowing that he was facing federal charges for a previous ‘Ponzi scam’.”
And how gloriously it all began, when our financial world was fascinated by the success of a young and energetic businessman, who made the fairy tale about the Great American Dream come true and was nobody, but became everything. At the beginning of February the year before and a year before his arrest, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Stanislav Bril answered the question of what helped him, an immigrant, become a successful entrepreneur. “America is a country of opportunity,” Bril replied. - If you have drive and will, you can achieve ANYTHING in this country... There are three types of people in this world. Those who don't care about you; those who are happy that you have your own business; and those who will help your cause. There are very few of them, try to find them and everything will be fine.” When asked where a new entrepreneur should start his business in today’s economy, Bril answered that the main thing is not to listen to anyone, but to look for it yourself and make sure that this is exactly what is needed. “I firmly believe,” he said, “that the best business is one that solves problems and needs, and most importantly, the owner loves being in it.” Holy words, although, again, the federal prosecutor’s office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has a different opinion on this matter, which was joined by Slava Bril himself, pleading guilty to fraud. I think Judge Jean Pratter, 74, who was appointed by President Bush in 2004, will appreciate his recognition.
Arrested on February 8 last year, Bril was released on bail at the same time and on October 30, 2023, in Philadelphia federal court, he confirmed to Judge Gene Pratter that he had committed three mail frauds, eleven times wire fraud, five times bank fraud, and five times money laundering. This is money, which is collectively called a “Ponzi scam” or “financial pyramid”. Such “pyramids” operate on one principle - their founders open or invent a corporation, promise its potential investors fabulous profits and at first pay it out of the deposits of previous investors, after which the pyramid collapses, leaving its founders with a jackpot and its investors with their noses.
It is known that Stan, and then Vyacheslav Bril, was born in Soviet Moldova into a Jewish family, which in 1990, when Slava was 7 years old, took the usual “high route” on an Israeli call through Vienna and Rome to the United States, where they were received by the HIAS organization ( Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) - Society for helping Jewish immigrants. The family spent two weeks in Austria, and four months in Italy. In addition to Slavik, the family included his older brother Leonid, who is now 48 years old, and sister Bella, who is 47. In Italy, where the Briley family, apparently, lived in Ostia or Ladispoli near Rome, the father repaired bicycles, and the sons washed car windows at intersections, what we call “squidgies”. In America, the Brileys first came to the city of Savannah, Georgia, where, according to Stan, “they were the fifth Russian family,” that is, families of Jews from the Soviet Union. Everything went as usual, his brother and sister went to school, his father first worked as a meat packer, then as a car mechanic, and his mother helped the elderly and was a translator for new arrivals.
After graduating from school, Stan Brill entered Brooklyn College in New York, and from there to Phoenix University in Arizona. He then moved to Philadelphia, where he worked and gained experience in the mortgage industry. He now lives in the Pennsylvania town of Jamison, 30 miles from Philadelphia, with his 37-year-old wife Albina Shvartsman and their two children, 7-year-old Ethan and 6-year-old Eliana. During the financial crisis of 2008, Stanislav realized how difficult it was to get such a mortgage and realized how profitable it was to be able to get it approved. In 2009, 26-year-old Bril founded the company MCG (Mortgage Consultant Group), while completing his education at Salem International University in West Virginia. His company was involved in loans in the fields of real estate, construction and business, and most of its success, according to him, was due to its ability to work with any clients. “We don’t have any special requirements,” he explained, “because each case is different and different.” There is no great wisdom in this approach, and others from a shoemaker to a neurosurgeon may say the same, but as a result, Brilya's MCG has become a leader in commercial finance, handling more than $5 billion in transactions across its six US offices and its Barcelona offices, London, Sofia and, of course, Chisinau.
The federal prosecutor's office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has a different opinion, and there they consider Bril's unique approach to clients to be another financial pyramid that cost them millions of dollars. As the head of this prosecutor's office, Jacqueline Romero, said, her department, along with law enforcement partners, "will continue to hold fraudsters like Stanislav Bril accountable for their scams that affect us all, from investors to taxpayers." And Richard Langham, head of the FBI's Philadelphia office, added that "Over the course of 10 years, Bril committed several scams, defrauding investors, the bank and the government, but fortunately, the FBI and our partners know how to bring criminals like him to justice." " The head of the investigative department of the federal tax service IRS, Yuri Krutiy, said in the same press release from the prosecutor's office that his department is proud to assist in the investigation and is ready to continue it in the fight against white-collar crimes.
From the charges brought against Briel, it follows that from October 2011 to August 2014, the MCG company was such a “pyramid scheme”, receiving more than a million dollars from investors. To do this, Stan Bril invited investors and convinced them to invest money in this company, which would issue mortgages for real estate and construction projects at short-term and high interest rates. Bril promised investors regular payments of their contractually agreed share of the profits, but instead spent their money on himself, his family, gambling in casinos, and, of course, paying the promised profits to some investors. From October 2018 to June 2021, Bril fraudulently obtained a $750,000 loan from a Scranton, Pennsylvania bank for another company he created, The Bril Group, Inc. (TBG). To secure this loan, he misrepresented to the bank about TBG's financial position, the number of its employees, and the purpose of the loan. Having received permission, he spent part of the loan on purchases not authorized by the bank, and laundered a significant part through various bank accounts.
From April 2020 to March 2021, Stanislav Bril fraudulently received more than $6.7 million under the federal Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Programs (PPP). To do this, he again lied about the state of his companies, in particular by stating that TBG, MCG LOAN, and SAB Services corporations had several hundred employees, when in fact there were only one each. With this money, he transferred money to crypto platforms and to a real estate registration company to buy a condominium in Los Angeles, and laundered part of it. When Bril began to miss paying investors their contracted share of profits, he lied to them that he was waiting for electronic transfers or checks sent to him by mail, and once explained that he was dissatisfied with his bank and was looking for another, and another time he referred to ill health and family troubles. “When investors inquired about whether there were complaints, lawsuits or other legal claims against him,” the indictment concluded, “he lied that everything was fine, knowing that he was facing federal charges for a previous ‘Ponzi scam’.”
And how gloriously it all began, when our financial world was fascinated by the success of a young and energetic businessman, who made the fairy tale about the Great American Dream come true and was nobody, but became everything. At the beginning of February the year before and a year before his arrest, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Stanislav Bril answered the question of what helped him, an immigrant, become a successful entrepreneur. “America is a country of opportunity,” Bril replied. - If you have drive and will, you can achieve ANYTHING in this country... There are three types of people in this world. Those who don't care about you; those who are happy that you have your own business; and those who will help your cause. There are very few of them, try to find them and everything will be fine.” When asked where a new entrepreneur should start his business in today’s economy, Bril answered that the main thing is not to listen to anyone, but to look for it yourself and make sure that this is exactly what is needed. “I firmly believe,” he said, “that the best business is one that solves problems and needs, and most importantly, the owner loves being in it.” Holy words, although, again, the federal prosecutor’s office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has a different opinion on this matter, which was joined by Slava Bril himself, pleading guilty to fraud. I think Judge Jean Pratter, 74, who was appointed by President Bush in 2004, will appreciate his recognition.
