FBI: Long Island investment firm boss surrenders

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The owner of a Long Island investment firm accused of cheating people out of more than $100 million is expected to appear in court Tuesday.


FBI spokesman Jim Margolin says Nicholas Cosmo surrendered at a U.S. Postal Inspection Service office in Hicksville on Monday night.

Cosmo runs Agape World Inc. in Hauppauge (HAW'-pawg). He's accused of taking in $300 million from investors and cheating them out of about $140 million.

A letter hanging in Cosmo's office window denies there was any Ponzi scheme, the type of fraud Bernard Madoff (MAY'-dawf) is accused of committing. A Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme promises unusually high returns and pays early investors with money from later investors.

Defense attorneys at the Herrick Feinstein law firm haven't returned telephone calls seeking comment.

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