Real Estate Fraud Charge Says Investor Money Went to Gambling, But Not How Much

Some of the people who lent Andrew Laub money were relatives and a childhood friend, and they were promised returns of 45 to 50 percent. Now he faces a federal wire fraud charge of $5,758,630, and a court filing describes much of the money as spent on personal items and gambling. The charge is an allegation, and Laub has not been convicted of anything.

The first victim reportedly handed over about $250,000 in 2020 after being promised 45 percent interest. Laub paid those early returns, which encouraged the victim and their family to lend millions more over roughly five years. When the payments stopped, the victim recorded a phone call in which Laub reportedly admitted he had not invested the money in property and had sent fake emails to suggest it had been. A second investor put in $180,000 in mid-2025 for a supposed stake in a Bronx property that Laub never owned. A third, a childhood friend, wired $325,000 for a promised $487,500 return, also tied to a property Laub did not own.

The filing, as reported, says bank records show Laub paid some victims with money from others. That is the ordinary mechanics of a Ponzi scheme, and it means lenders were not only losing principal but funding each other's early exits. The gambling detail is the part the reporting leaves thinnest. The filing says much of the money went to gambling, but it does not give an amount or say where the gambling happened.

That gap matters for how the case is read. If gambling was a sink for a few hundred thousand dollars, it is one detail in a fraud built on fabricated property deals. If it was the main outlet for the money, it would be a different story about a bettor's losses being recovered from people who trusted him. The reporting does not yet let a reader tell which it is. A LinkedIn profile listing Laub as CEO and co-founder of Keneh Ventures is his own claim and does not establish what that firm did.

If convicted, Laub faces up to 20 years in prison. Until then, the people carrying the cost are the lenders, and in several cases the families around them, who have already lost money they expected to recover.