Feds: Bronxville businessman charged with fraud

• A Bronxville businessman was arrested at his home Friday on federal fraud charges.
• Authorities said he misled investors in his software company.

A Bronxville businessman arrested at his home Friday is accused of making false statements to investors while raising more than $3 million for his software company.

Federal authorities said Gregory Rorke, 60, assured more than 30 investors in his firm Navagate Inc., that he had at least $12 million in assets with which he could repay them. In reality, most of the money didn't belong to him, authorities said.

"As alleged, Gregory Rorke grossly misrepresented his character and financial stability to investors, whom he then defrauded of millions of dollars," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

Rorke, a former adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each charge fines of up to $5 million.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a civil complaint also filed Friday, said Rorke only had access to $1,527 in cash. Most of the $6 million in liquid assets pledged by him was held by his wife, the commission said.

Bharara said the businessman also falsely told investors that Navagate didn't owe any money to the IRS and that a bank, HSBC, had signed a multimillion-dollar contract with the company.

Rorke appeared before Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein in federal court in Manhattan and was released on $250,000 bail. Efforts to reach him and his attorney were unsuccessful.