Northridge Man Indicted in Investment Fraud

A 63-year-old Northridge man was indicted Monday for his role in a $2.5 million investment fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Nicholas Fleming was among six people named in the indictment charged with multiple counts of mail fraud and wire fraud in the scheme that bilked more than 140 U.S. citizens and businesses. He is in federal custody. According to the indictment, Fleming and the other defendants allegedly started in January 2012 selling stock in Niyato Industries Inc., a company owned by one of the other defendants. They used high-pressure techniques to get investors, many of whom were elderly, to buy into the company which reportedly made compressed natural gas automobiles and was planning an initial public offering. Fleming and the co-defendants, however, are alleged to have known that Niyato had no facilities, products, patents or plans for an imminent IPO, but rather was merely a vehicle for collecting money from investors. A Nicholas Fleming with an address in Northridge was listed as the chief executive of Herbalcare Inc., as of 2011 although the company has since been dissolved, according to the California Secretary of State office. The indictment was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose of the Western District of North Carolina.