July 7 (UPI) — An Army financial counselor in New Jersey was federally indicted on Friday for allegedly defrauding two dozen Gold Star families.
Caz Craffy, also known as Carz Craffey, 41, of Colts Neck, N.J., was charged with six counts of wire fraud and one count each of securities fraud, making false statements in a loan application, committing acts furthering a personal financial interest, and making false statements to a federal agency.
Craffy was scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Friday in Trenton, N.J., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Craffy’s alleged actions were predatory to specifically target the families of fallen American service members.
“Stealing from Gold Star families whose loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation is a shameful crime,” Garland said in a statement. “As alleged in the indictment, the defendant in this case used his position as an Army financial counselor to defraud GoldStar families, steal their money, and enrich himself.”
The indictment said that, from 2018 to January, Craffy misrepresented his authority to Gold Star families to get them to invest into his financial firm. Prosecutors said Craffy abused his position of trust to enrich himself during the family’s most vulnerable time.
Authorities said when a member of the Armed Services dies during active duty, his or her surviving beneficiary, now a member of a Gold Star family, is entitled to a $100,000 death gratuity and the soldier’s life insurance of up to $400,000.
Craffy, a major in the Army Reserves, was responsible for only providing general financial education to the surviving beneficiaries. Instead, against Pentagon rules and federal law, Craffy guided more than $9.9 million from Gold Star families to invest in accounts managed by him privately to invest and trade often without the family’s authorization, authorities said.
One Gold Star family ended up losing more than $3.4 million in the scheme while Craffy earned more than $1.4 million in commissions taken from the family accounts.
“Craffy disgraced the position he was entrusted … when he allegedly took advantage of them during a vulnerable time of grief,” said Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel of Homeland Security Investigations Newark.
“No family, especially our Gold Star families, should have to face further heartache after a loved one’s death by having their financial security ripped out from under them by fraudsters.”
