Josh Schuster pleaded guilty to securities fraud Friday and agreed to forfeit $13 million in assets to repay his victims.
The Silverback Development founder appeared in Manhattan Federal court Friday afternoon, where he admitted that he lied when he raised money from investors for certain development projects, knowing full well at the time that he planned to use the money for other purposes.
“I knew what I was doing was wrong and I’m ashamed of those decisions,” he said.
Schuster, 42, appeared in the courtroom dressed in a grey suit and listened intently as District Judge Valerie Caproni explained that once he entered his guilty plea, he could not take it back.
Schuster had pleaded not guilty in May to one count each of wire and securities fraud, but earlier this month prosecutors notified Caproni that Schuster intended to change his plea.
He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing, which Caproni set for July 9.
The prosecutors said that they had come to a $13 million forfeiture agreement with Schuster to repay his victims, though they weren’t yet asking the judge to enter a consent order.
During the hearing, Schuster revealed that he was being treated for depression and bipolar disorder. He said that he went into a drug-abuse and alcohol treatment program in 2022 and has been sober since.
That was shortly after The Real Deal in 2021 uncovered allegations that Schuster had been misappropriating investors’ money in several of his development projects. He relocated to Florida and attempted to reinvent himself as a solar-project developer.
But last year federal prosecutors charged him with operating a $10 million Ponzi scheme.
The Securities and Exchange Commission also has a case against him, in which it seeks to claw back the money he took in from his alleged scam. The case is ongoing.
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