Stock Scams Are Eyed
In Dual Slay
Victims had history of shady deals
and betrayal of business associates
By DAVID LEFER
Daily News Staff Writer
lbert Alain Chalem and Maier Lehmann were on the cold
marble floor, facedown in pools of blood, their cell phones near
their bodies. Chalem, shot five times in the chest and once in
the head, seemed to have put up a struggle. Lehmann was shot once
in the leg and three times in the head.
Someone had gunned down the two execution-style in Chalem's
million-dollar mansion in New Jersey. Investigators — who called the
double murder "a whodunit" from the start— say they are stumped by
the grisly slayings.
The cops are finding that many people had a motive to pull the
trigger. The two Internet stock promoters were entangled in the
increasingly violent world of penny-stock fraud. And prosecutors
believe their business dealings had something to do with their
deaths.
"The killer or killers feared something else more than the loss of
money," said Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye.
Anyone from scammed investors to vengeful
business partners, angry that Lehmann, 37, and
Chalem,41, had once turned government
informers, could be behind the slayings.
Investigators also are looking into the possibility
that Russian or American organized crime are
involved.
Both men had long histories of shady business
deals and trouble with the law. They started
working together relatively recently.
Business Disputes
One of their first ventures was a company that promoted a procedure
used for the rapid detoxification of drug addicts. That company
became the center of a bitter dispute after it was sold to another
company in California. A former business associate says Chalem
and Lehmann were owed more than $2 million by the other company,
which refused to pay.
Most recently Chalem and Lehmann ran stockinvestors.com, a Web
site that promoted questionable penny stocks and sent millions of
spam e-mails to unwary investors. The site was taken off-line last
week.
By all accounts, Chalem, was the mastermind.
"Everyone was in Al's shadow," said a former business associate.
"He's the only guy I've ever met who could control four cell phone
calls at once, using two different cell phones and call waiting."
Sources describe his lavish lifestyle and his love of expensive toys —
a yacht in Florida and a Bentley, Jaguar and Humvee in New Jersey.
Yet Chalem never drove and said he had no driver's license. Said to
have been born in the Middle East, told associates he was not even a
U.S. citizen.
Chalem had several houses, but almost none of his possessions was
in his name. The house in which he died, a large estate he shared
with his girlfriend and her son in posh Colts Neck, was legally owned
by his girlfriend's father.
Lehmann lived in Woodmere, L.I., and was married with five children.
At his packed funeral, his rabbi described him as deeply religious.
His brother recalled how he would paint the walls of his children's
rooms with colorful animals. Friends believed he was killed because
he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
May Have Known Killer
Details of the gruesome crime scene have added to the intrigue.
Police found no signs of robbery or forced entry at the mansion. It
seems either Chalem or Lehmann knew their killer or killers.
Two friends of the slain men were the first to discover the bodies.
They had been in touch with Chalem throughout the day Oct. 25, and
their last conversation was at 8:30 p.m.
When they could no longer reach Chalem, the friends decided to
drive to Colts Neck. They arrived at 1 a.m. and found the front door
open. Chalem and Lehmann were in the dining room, their suits
ripped by bullets.
One of the friends called the police.
Chalem appeared to have been sitting in a chair when he was first
shot. There were signs of a struggle, and he might have tried to get
up.
Lehmann's death seems to have been quicker. He had been shot
once, perhaps to cripple him, and then iced.
Their cell phones were lying a few feet from their bodies. Investigators
are wondering whether Chalem and Lehmann had tried calling
someone for help or whether they had been on the phones when they
were shot.
The phones are still receiving calls, and police say callers are
surprised to discover that Chalem or Lehmann aren't the ones
answering. Investigators are now reviewing the men's phone records.
Trip Details Puzzling
Other clues have prosecutors guessing. On a nearby table, piles of
business papers were spread out. Outside the white-brick mansion
was a gray Dodge sedan Lehmann had rented. The trunk was open
and there was a suitcase inside.
Chalem had told friends he was planning to go by car to Tennessee
the next day and from there charter a plane to Fort Lauderdale, where
his girlfriend, Kimberly Scarola, had been staying for the past few
days in their condominium.
Investigators are wondering why he wanted to be driven 700 miles
before flying and why the plane had to be private.
Another important question is whether there was
more than one assassin. Ballistics tests on the
10 bullets found at the site may provide the
answer. No guns have been recovered.
Kaye now has 20 people from the Monmouth
County prosecutor's office working on the case.
They are being assisted by state and local
police as well as agents from the FBI and the
Securities and Exchange Commission. The FBI
may take over if evidence shows that organized
crime is behind the killings.
Investigators are sifting through boxes of business papers and
computer files. The killers appeared not to have destroyed any
documents, a sign perhaps that they didn't believe their names would
appear there.
Chalem and Lehmann were themselves no strangers to law
enforcement officials, and by far the greatest task facing investigators
is to track down those involved in their crooked schemes.
In 1993, Lehmann was indicted for defrauding an insurance company
out of $1 million in two faked robberies of his Not Just Videos
electronics store on Long Island. In exchange for a plea bargain,
Lehmann cooperated with federal authorities. His help led to the
convictions of 120 people and the exposure of $120 million in fake
insurance claims in New York and New Jersey.
More Shady Deals
Lehmann was sentenced to house arrest in 1994. For a while
afterward, he sought to become an informer in the world of
penny-stock fraud and contacted several news agencies, including
The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, offering information.
He didn't give up his dubious business pursuits, however. Last year,
Lehmann, with several others, was sued by the SEC for allegedly
manipulating the stock of Electro Optical System Corp., a company
that developed instant fingerprinting technology.
In one day the company's stock rose to $5 per share from 50 cents,
only to crash later. Investors lost $10 million in the scheme.
Lehmann agreed to pay $630,000 in penalties without admitting guilt.
Chalem, too, was involved in his share of suspicious activities. From
1994 to 1996, he worked at A.S. Goldmen, a now defunct brokerage
firm in New Jersey that has been embroiled in a criminal investigation
since July, when the Manhattan district attorney's office indicted the
company and many of its employees.
Prosecutors say the company duped unsuspecting investors, forged
documents and made unauthorized trades. Company lawyers have
denied the allegations. Chalem was not charged and had been
cooperating with prosecutors.
Chalem also was involved in the questionable sale of a motel he
owned in Hampton Bays to Clean-X-Press, a San Francisco-based
laundermat company. After the sale, the company's stock
plummeted, and angry investors have sued. The company also has
been targeted by the SEC.
A former business partner detailed for the Sunday News how Chalem
and Lehmann made money through various penny stock or "small
cap" swindles. They would hype small companies they had interests
in and help sell their stocks to unsuspecting investors at artificially
high prices.
Their Web site, which was registered in Panama and managed out of
Hungary, was crucial to this scheme. It mainly was used to find the
names of potential stock investors and blitz them with e-mail.
Chalem and Lehmann would then dump their shares for far more
money than they had paid, let the company crash and leave investors
with worthless stock. They would then repeat the process with a new
company.
Last Score Fatal?
That scam, though it made them rich, may have led to their murder.
Legal experts say that though in the past such illicit activities might
have prompted lawsuits, they can have far deadlier consequences
today.
"In the old days if you cut corners, you got a slap on the wrist," said
David Jaroslawicz, a Manhattan lawyer involved in a large
class-action suit against stock fraudsters. "Blowing you away doesn't
mean anything now."
The former associate said he lost money because he believed
Chalem's and Lehmann's promises.
"[The others] would say, 'Don't worry. Whatever Al touches turns to
gold.'"
Original Publication Date: 11/07/1999
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