Hicksville Modeling Agency Accused of Fraud

John Mitty Thursday, September 19, 2013

A Hicksville modeling agency has just been accused of massive fraud.  Clients were apparently charged more for their photos than the promised prices and promised imaginary jobs in routine contract violations.  James Muniz was president of both the Model Talent Development Center (the latest incarnation of this fraud scheme) and New Faces Development Center.  If you shopped at Roosevelt Field Mall, you might even have seen them shopping around for new clients between 2010 and 2012.  Scouts would approach children and teens and offer their families jobs which didn’t exist, and then charge them to act as an intermediary.  They would even offer jobs with major retail companies like Target if families could pay thousands of dollars up front within the next 24 hours. 

A warrant has been issued for Muniz’ arrest, and several of his employees, Jennifer Santiago, Jennifer Diaz-Domenech, and Michelle Alperin-Smith, have been arrested already on charges of grand larceny and scheme to defraud.  If they are convicted on all charges, they face up to seven years in prison.  Interestingly enough, this is not the first time Muniz’ company has been caught.  In 2006, the New York Attorney General’s office sued them for $250,000 when they were owned by the man’s ex-wife and went under the New Faces name.  

jmitty@longislandyellowpages.com

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