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Great Neck Man Gets 5 Years for $2M Con

A Great Neck man and one-time international fugitive who admitted conning investors out of more than $2-million in a precious metals scam was sentenced Thursday to nearly five years in federal prison.

Amner Borukhov, 34, had pleaded guilty in October at Central Islip federal court to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud along with his 30-year-old brother, Markiel Borukhov, of Brooklyn.

“Instead of running a legitimate business, the defendants stole money by marketing bogus precious metals to unwitting investors,” George Venizelos, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, said.

Prosecutors said that the men promised more than 60 investors that they would use their money to purchase palladium and other precious metals, but instead used those funds to pay their personal expenses between May 2009 and January 2011.

The duo also falsely told prospective investors that they were in a partnership with Jim Cramer, who hosts CNBC’s Mad Money, according to investigators.

To cover their tracks, they used aliases. Amner was also known as “Alex” and “Avner.” Markiel went by “Mark.”

When they learned that they were being investigated, they fled to Morocco, where they lived for 14 months before being arrested and extradited.

Amner was also ordered to pay $2.2 million in restitution. Markiel, who was sentenced last month to two years in prison, was ordered to pay $622,000.