Gabriel Letizia, $46 Million Fraud Scheme, New York 2021

GABRIEL LETIZIA, 71, of New City, New York, has pleaded guilty to running a decades-long $46 million consumer products testing scam.

According to prosecutors, LETIZIA, the owner and executive director of AMA Laboratories, Inc., defrauded customers by reporting laboratory test results for panelist testing that was not fully performed.

LETIZIA and his co-conspirators, including former AMA employees David Winne, Mayya Tatsene, Patrycja Wojtowicz, and Kaitlyn Gold, tested products on materially lower numbers of panelists than the numbers specified and paid for by AMA's customers.

As a result, the customers were sent fraudulent reports, which falsely represented that AMA had tested the products on the number of panelists specified by the customers, causing the introduction of misbranded products into interstate commerce.

LETIZIA pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison; and two counts of causing a misbranded drug to be introduced into interstate commerce, each of which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison.

The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as the sentence of LETIZIA will be determined by the Court.

LETIZIA will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas on September 14, 2021, at 2:00 p.m.

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, and the Rockland County District Attorney's Office.