Caesar DiCrecchio, Wire Fraud, Pennsylvania 2024

Former Philly Produce Market Chief Charged in $7.8M Scam

Caesar DiCrecchio, 60, of Voorhees, NJ, has been charged with two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of aggravated identity theft, and four counts of tax evasion, all allegedly causing more than $7.8 million in losses to the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market in South Philadelphia.

The Information alleges that DiCrecchio, the former President and CEO of the Produce Market, exercised control over every aspect of the Market, including expenditure of funds, and was required to report on the Market’s finances to its Board of Directors. DiCrecchio defrauded the Market by using company funds to pay $1.9 million in rent on his Stone Harbor, New Jersey shore house; converting into cash $1.1 million in checks drawn on the Market’s bank account and using the cash for his own benefit; causing $1.7 million in checks to be issued from the Market operating account payable to his friends or relatives; causing the Market to pay for the defendant’s personal credit card expenditures; converting $320,000 in checks that were payable to the Market and cashing them for his own benefit; skimming $2.6 million in cash from the pay gate at the Market’s parking lot, which he used to pay Market employees ‘under the table’ while keeping a substantial portion for his own use; and using Market funds to provide a $180,000 loan to a Market vendor, which the vendor repaid directly to DiCrecchio.

The defendant concealed these expenditures in the Market’s books and records by directing that these payments be reflected as legitimate business expenditures, for example: notated as maintenance, snow removal, insurance, legal fees and other false expenditure entries.

The Information also alleges that DiCrecchio committed aggravated identity theft by cashing checks at a currency exchange using the name of an unwitting victim as the payee. Further, it is also alleged that the defendant conspired to engage in money laundering by agreeing with two unnamed individuals to conduct repeated money laundering transactions by converting Market funds into money orders at a currency exchange so that he could pay the rent at his shore house. In total, DiCrecchio laundered approximately $319,736 by purchasing money orders at the currency exchange using Market funds.

DiCrecchio willfully attempted to evade federal income tax over several years, by failing to report more than $2.1 million in income for tax years 2014 through 2017. DiCrecchio failed to report income from the Market, as well as income from other sources, including his Stone Harbor shore house.

Additionally, Thomas Del Borrello, 42 of Sewell, NJ, was also charged by Information with eight counts of aggravated false filing of a currency transaction report and one count of aggravated failure to file a currency transaction report.

According to the charges, Del Borrello, a supervisor at United Check Cashing on South Broad Street in Philadelphia, was responsible for compliance with regulations governing cash transactions, including the preparation and filing of Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs). DiCrecchio regularly caused groups of checks to be delivered to, and cashed at, United Check Cashing. These checks were each made out for less than $10,000, but when cashed as a group generated in excess of $10,000 in United States currency. For these cash transactions in excess of $10,000, regulations require the currency exchange to file a CTR, recording the identity of the person who presented the transaction.

Del Borrello allegedly caused the filing of false CTRs which hid DiCrecchio’s identity, or caused United Check Cashing to fail to file a CTR altogether. On some occasions, DiCrecchio directed Del Borrello, or others at United Check Cashing, to convert the proceeds of the checks into separate money orders which were used to pay the monthly rent for DiCrecchio’s Stone Harbor house.

Mandatory Facts:

– Defendant: Caesar DiCrecchio

– Charges: two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of aggravated identity theft, and four counts of tax evasion

– City and State: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

– Date: Not specified

– Sentence or Outcome: Not specified

– Dollar Amounts: $7.8 million, $1.9 million, $1.1 million, $1.7 million, $320,000, $2.6 million, $180,000, $319,736, $2.1 million

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