Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Elizabeth Baldwin appeared briefly in Superior Court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to embezzling nearly $7.3 million from 47 investors in what prosecutors say was a classic Ponzi scheme.

Balwdwin, 63, spoke softly as she told Superior Court Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg her name, date of birth, Nov. 6, 1945, and her address, 1 Commercial Wharf.

A pretrial hearing was set for June 8.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
Elizabeth Baldwin, right, appears in Newport Superior Court this afternoon with her lawyer Lara Ewens

Baldwin walked away from a reporter in the courthouse after the hearing, and her public defender, Lara Ewens, said Baldwin would have no comment. Ewens would not say whether Baldwin planned to take the case to trial.

Three people were in the gallery to watch the hearing. One man, who would not give his name said he was one of Baldwin's alleged victims. A woman, who also would not give her name, said she was there to make Baldwin "uncomfotable."

Prosecutors say Baldwin met of her alleged victims on the sailing circuit between Newport and the Caribbean.

Authorities allege Baldwin looted her customers through a scheme in which she paid off early investors with money she swindled from later investors. Some of their money allegedly allowed her to buy a 65-foot mahogany sloop that she skippered in the centennial Newport-to-Bermuda race in 2006, rent a house in St. Bart's and travel through the Caribbean and Europe.

Baldwin was initially arrested on a host of broad charges one year ago. Since then prosecutors have been formulating the specifics in the case. The charges are broken down into various felonies: obtaining money ($500 or more) under false pretenses, embezzlement over $100, unlawful appropriation over $1,000 and computer fraud. She also faces one count of writing a fraudulent check.

Baldwin called her investment business The Newportant Group and ran it from her apartment at 1 Commercial Wharf. But according to a state police affidavit filed in the spring 2008 at the time of her arrest, her state trader's licenses expired in 2002, her registration with the National Futures Association expired in 2005, and the Newportant Group had "never been registered" with proper agencies.

 Tags  Newport RI Ponzi scheme

Comments

DB said:

How does she have a public defender??

Link | May 6, 2009 10:11 AM
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