Alleged Brooklyn Con Artist Begins Trial for $40 Million Swindle

The trial for Brooklyn’s own alleged Ponzi schemer began yesterday in federal court.

Phillip Barry, 53, was charged with losing the savings of dozens of Bay Ridge investors through a fraudulent investment company, reported the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Barry can get up to 20 years in prison on charges that he ran a $40 million Ponzi scheme for 30 years out of a store in Bay Ridge. His alleged con destroyed the savings of numerous investors. Many of them were elderly or working class Brooklynites. Barry’s defense argues he was an unsuccessful investment manager who lost investors’ savings in the real-estate market crash and the resulting recession.