GUILDERLAND — David Mazzeo, 57, of Guilderland, is accused of defrauding investors and using the money to pay off the restitution that he owed from previous crimes, according to an indictment filed in Albany County Supreme Court this week.

Mazzeo, who is currently being held at the Albany County Jail on $200,000 bail, plans to fight the charges, according to his lawyer, Francisco Calderon.

“This isn’t some type of scam,” Calderon said. “Mr. Mazzeo is a businessman.”

Mazzeo is charged with defrauding investors out of nearly $150,000 and his associate, Michael Caruso, 61, of Schenectady is facing related charges.

Mazzeo had allegedly pitched investors on a plan to develop coal and natural gas projects about five years ago, but instead used the money to pay for $25,000 in restitution that he owed in two earlier cases against him; $20,000 in attorney fees from those cases; and $37,000 for liquor, tobacco, purchases made at Victoria’s Secret, and payments to Caruso, according to prosecutors.

The state’s attorney general characterized it as an “elaborate scheme” to defraud investors, many of whom were from out of state.

Calderon, however, said that the issue boils down to a “contractual dispute” and maintains that Mazzeo was working on the project.

Both men are charged with second-degree money laundering, a felony, and scheming to defraud in the first degree, also a felony. Mazzeo is also charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, three counts of third-degree grand larceny, securities fraud under the Martin Act, offering a false instrument for filing, and fourth-degree criminal tax fraud — all felonies.