Police: Man stole $1M

A business owner accused of ripping off more than $1 million from Orange County residents, including at least one in Costa Mesa, was arrested Tuesday on his way to work.

Paul Abad, 45, of Tustin, is charged with 23 felonies including the theft of more than $500,000, embezzlement and lying to the government. Abad owned Thirteen Thirty-Two Inc., a business that supposedly invested customers’ money in futures and commodities.

“Everything was bogus,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino. “Some people lost everything.”

Instead of taking his customers’ cash — in one case more than $780,000 — and investing it, Abad spent the money himself, Amormino said. Abad started the scam in 2001 and kept his customers unsuspecting by mailing them false financial statements showing growth in their investments, authorities said. In some cases, Abad even distributed payments to investors using other investors’ cash like in a Ponzi scheme, Amormino said. He added that when customers wanted their money back, Abad often said he forgot the password to his computer and couldn’t access their funds.

It was not immediately clear if Abad had retained a lawyer, and a public defender has not yet been assigned.

Abad was arrested on his way to work at 10:45 a.m. Abad knew he was being investigated, Amormino said.

Court records show that the government filed to have Abad’s assets frozen in December 2008. The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission is suing him. Abad was arrested after a yearlong investigation by Costa Mesa police and Orange County Sheriff’s Department Major Fraud unit investigators.