Joseph LaForte, Securities Fraud, Pennsylvania 2024

A Philadelphia man has been sentenced to 15.5 years in prison for defrauding investors using a fraudulent investment vehicle known as Par Funding.

Joseph LaForte, of Philadelphia, was sentenced yesterday for securities fraud, conspiring to defraud the IRS, filing false tax returns, employment tax fraud, wire fraud, obstruction, and other charges.

According to court documents and statements made in court, LaForte engaged in a scheme to defraud investors using Par Funding, causing an actual loss to investors exceeding $288 million.

LaForte also engaged in a series of federal tax crimes, including diverting approximately $20 million in taxable income from Par Funding to another entity controlled by LaForte and nominally owned by another.

He filed false tax returns that did not report this income, and he also received more than $9 million in cash kickbacks from a customer of Par Funding and did not report this income to the IRS on his individual tax returns.

As a result, LaForte’s individual tax returns for the years 2016 through 2018 were false.

The total federal tax loss stemming from LaForte’s crimes exceeds $8 million, and he also caused $1.6 million in state tax loss to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue by falsely reporting that he and his wife were residents of Florida from 2013 through 2019.

LaForte’s crimes were investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Newcomer, Sam Dalke, Eric Gill, and Patrick J. Murray for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania prosecuted the case.

Defendant: Joseph LaForte, City: Philadelphia, State: Pennsylvania, Charges: securities fraud, conspiring to defraud the IRS, filing false tax returns, employment tax fraud, wire fraud, obstruction, Date: yesterday, Sentence: 15.5 years in prison, Federal Tax Loss: $8 million, State Tax Loss: $1.6 million, Total Loss to Investors: $288 million.

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