Claudio Osorio once boasted that he climbed the world’s iconic mountains: Fuji, Kilimanjaro and the Matterhorn.
But the jet-setting Venezuelan-born entrepreneur has now taken the steepest fall of his life. On Friday, Osorio, along with his business partner, Craig Stanley Toll, were arrested as part of a 23-count federal indictment charging them with bilking investors out of $40 million.
Osorio and Toll, the principals of a failed business venture, InnoVida Holdings, are also charged with defrauding the federal government out of $10 million in loans they were given to help finance construction of a Haitian factory to build homes for hurricane victims.
Osorio built his company in 2005, selling it to investors as a cutting-edge producer of fiber-composite panels that could build affordable housing and post-disaster shelter in developing countries. His business model entailed forming joint ventures all over the world.
He splashed his wealth in Miami social circles and soon was hobnobbing with a who’s who of rich, famous and politically connected people, many of whom he lured into investing in his company under false pretences, authorities allege.
Osorio filed for bankruptcy last year and his $12 million Star Island mansion was auctioned off. As part of his Chapter 11 filing, the embattled entrepreneur promised to repay creditors and investors $50 million. The company, which once had former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as a board member, was shut down last year, and its formula for building the resin-structured housing was sold to a Brazilian firm.
Miami businessman Chris Korge and Chicago Bulls star Carlos Boozer were among the investors accusing Osorio of using lies, fraud and theft to prop up his and his wife’s lavish lifestyle, not to invest in his company.
His wife, Amarilis, is not charged in the indictment.
High-flying Miami businessman charged with fraud
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High-flying Miami businessman charged with fraud
