A New York City boiler room operator was sentenced to 20 years in prison for scamming millions of dollars from elderly coin collectors across the country.
Michael Romano, 47, was convicted of mail and wire and money laundering conspiracy after a five-week trial in June 2011.
Romano was ordered to pay $9,139,727.10 in restitution to the defrauded victims and forfeit $32,220,617, the illegal gains of the eleven-year fraud scheme.
Between 1997 and 2008, Romano successively ran three coin companies, Wall Street Rare Coins, Atlantic Coin Company and Northeast Gold and Silver, located in Massapequa and Lindenhurst, New York.
From these locations, the defendant and others defrauded elderly victims from all 50 states over an 11-year period, falsely representing that the coins he sold were of a collectible grade.
Today’s announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), a broad coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies assembled to combat financial crimes.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, led by Loretta E. Lynch, announced the sentence, thanking the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for its assistance in the case.
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- Christopher Ferguson, Securities Fraud, New York 2020 · Ohio
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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