New Jersey Man Arrested for Failing to Broker $215K Used Printing Equipment

John Farina

WOOD-RIDGE, N.J. — September 9, 2016 — The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office has announced the arrest of John Farina, who operated The Icarus Group, located here, on theft charges related to an agreement with a German-based trading company to act as the broker for the sale of a used piece of commercial printing equipment. According to prosecutors, the 63-year-old entered into an agreement in November 2014 to broker the used equipment. As a result, the trading company wired him $215,000 in three installments, but he did not complete the purchase. Because the value of the property was more than $75,000, he has been charged with "theft by failure to make required disposition of property received," a second degree crime.

Farina reportedly had agreed to return the money in installments, but prosecutors say the personal check he issued for $80,000 was returned by the bank for insufficient funds. As a result, Farina has also been charged with one count of issuing a bad check, a third degree crime.

Farina, of River Vale, N.J., had been released on his own recognizance, and was scheduled to be arraigned in Bergen County Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack, N.J., last Wednesday.