NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – A former attorney has been sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $1,012,500 in restitution for his role in a scheme to defraud a business that sought to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frank Labruzzo, 45, was sentenced on February 6, 2024, for conspiring with co-defendant Cynthia Caronna and a United Kingdom resident to defraud a business that sought to purchase PPE, announced U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans.
According to court records, Labruzzo was presented to would-be buyers of PPE as a trustworthy escrow agent to safeguard the buyer’s purchase funds in an escrow account until the PPE was satisfactorily delivered.
However, the conspirators agreed that Labruzzo would disburse the would-be buyers’ funds despite their neither receiving the PPE nor consenting to the disbursements. The conspirators also agreed that each would receive portions of the would-be buyers’ funds without their knowledge or consent.
Labruzzo, who was then an attorney employed as an investigator with the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, was selected as the business’s escrow agent by Caronna and the UK resident.
U.S. District Judge Greg G. Guidry sentenced Labruzzo to five years of probation and ordered him to pay $1,012,500 in restitution.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chandra Menon of the Public Integrity Unit was in charge of the prosecution.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
Key Facts
- State: Louisiana
- Category: White Collar Crime|Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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