Thursday, January 23, 2025
Roman Holiday
The Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint based on a conviction for multiple counts of wire fraud
On January 10, 2025, Judge Gettleman entered a judgment of conviction on Counts One-through-Five and Count Seven of the indictment, and sentenced Respondent to a concurrent term of imprisonment of 36 months on all counts. In addition, Judge Gettleman sentenced Respondent to two years of supervised release upon his release from prison and ordered Respondent to pay restitution in the amount of $5,868,744.92 to five of the individuals or entities Respondent defrauded.
Allegations in the indictment
The indictment alleged that beginning in or about July 2015 and continuing through August of 2019, Respondent caused several investors to invest over $5,000,000 towards the purchase and development of real estate in Italy based on false representations regarding the intended use of the funds, Respondent’s compensation, his personal investment in the properties, and the status of the real estate transactions. The indictment further alleged that Respondent also represented to investors and caused others to falsely represent to investors that he intended to use their investments to purchase and develop real estate in Italy, when Respondent actually intended to use a significant portion of the investors’ funds for other purposes, including for personal purposes such as paying for jewelry, family vacations and for his own personal healthcare.
The indictment further alleged that Respondent falsely represented to investors, and caused others to falsely represent to investors, that Respondent would not receive any compensation for purchasing or developing the real estate until the transactions closed or until profits were generated by the sale or rental of the properties when, in fact, Respondent used investor funds for his own personal purposes and expenses before any closings took place and any profits were generated.
The indictment further alleged that Respondent falsely represented to investors that he had contributed specific amounts of his own funds towards the purchase and development of properties in Italy, including using his own money to pay off a corporate credit card when, in fact, Respondent had not contributed such amounts. The indictment alleged that Respondent also provided false information to investors about the status of certain real estate transactions in Italy, including the amounts purportedly paid for certain properties and the status of such transactions.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2025/01/the-illinois-administrator-has-filed-a-complaint-based-on-a-conviction-for-multiple-counts-of-wire-fraud-on-january-10-2025.html