Providence Man Admits to Wire Fraud and Assault of a Federal Officer
A Providence man has admitted to defrauding businesses out of more than $800,000 and assaulting federal officers as they attempted to arrest him.
Paul Diogenes, a/k/a Paul Dejullio, 49, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of wire fraud and assault of a federal officer, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.
Diogenes admitted to creating a fictitious catering company, listing his alias as president, to obtain credit from food distributors. He used this credit to purchase over $831,760 in luxury foods, including hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of lobster, sea bass, shrimp, scallops, filet, rib eye steak, and wild boar.
Diogenes resold much of the product, in some instances to the same business whose stolen banking information he used to gain credit from the food distributors. He fraudulently claimed that the food he was selling was from a restaurant that he recently closed.
On August 3, 2021, FBI agents, FBI task force officers, and Rhode Island State Police surveilled and followed Diogenes as he drove into a parking lot behind an East Providence business. Diogenes fled as the agents and task force officers converged to arrest him, ramming his car into an FBI task force vehicle, a delivery van, and a second FBI task force vehicle in the process.
Diogenes was finally located nine days later by the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI at a Middleborough, MA., hotel. At the time of his arrest, Diogenes was in possession of a briefcase containing $116,404 in cash.
Diogenes is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., on March 29, 2022. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker. Diogenes’s fraud was investigated by the FBI’s Rhode Island Complex Financial Crimes Task Force, with the assistance of Rhode Island State Police and the Providence, Woonsocket, East Providence, Bourne, and Fall River Police Departments.
Defendant/Respondent: Paul Diogenes, a/k/a Paul Dejullio, 49
Criminal Charges: Wire fraud and assault of a federal officer
City and State: Providence, Rhode Island
Exact Date: August 3, 2021
Sentence or Outcome: Scheduled to be sentenced on March 29, 2022
Dollar Amounts: $831,760 in luxury foods, $116,404 in cash
Key Facts
- State: Rhode Island
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
ðŸâ€Â’ Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
