Antonio Fasolino, Wire Fraud, New Jersey 2019

A Jersey City man has been brought to justice after admitting to swindling two investors out of $3.4 million in an olive oil contract scheme.

Antonio Fasolino, 62, pleaded guilty to all four counts of indictment charging him with three counts of wire fraud and one count of transacting in criminal proceeds in a Newark federal court.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Fasolino owned several companies that were purportedly involved in the manufacture, sale and distribution of pasta, tomato sauce, olive oil and other food products.

In 2012, Fasolino obtained approximately $3.4 million from two victims by falsely representing that Fasolino’s companies had been awarded lucrative contracts to sell olive oil.

In fact, there were never any such contracts. Fasolino supplied the victims with altered bank statements and spent the money on himself, including car and mortgage payments, apartment rentals, a wedding, college tuition and credit card payments.

Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. The transacting in criminal proceeds count carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison. Each charge in the indictment is also punishable by a potential $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

Fasolino is scheduled to be sentenced on January 11, 2019.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/jersey-city-man-admits-scamming-investors-34-million