Scott T. Valente, Securities Fraud, Mail Fraud, Tax Charges, New York 2015

Schenectady Man Pleads Guilty to Securities Fraud, Mail Fraud, Tax Charges

Scott T. Valente, 58, of Schenectady, New York, pleaded guilty today in Albany before Chief U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe to one count of securities fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of obstructing and impeding the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws.

Valente was released pending his sentencing, scheduled for September 8, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. in Albany, New York. He faces up to 20 years of imprisonment, a fine of $5.255 million, supervised release for three years, restitution, a money judgment of $10,555,954.27 and forfeiture of condominiums at River Oaks Golf and Tennis Resort II, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Jackson Gore Road Adams House, Ludlow, Vermont.

During the plea hearing, Valente admitted that between December 2010 and June 16, 2014, Valente falsely inflated rates of return for his investment company, the ELIV Group LLC (ELIV). During this time, ELIV raised more than $10.5 million from more than 100 investors.

Valente falsely represented to more than 30 ELIV investors that he and his company were authorized to accept, hold and manage individual retirement accounts (IRA). In reality, neither Valente nor ELIV had that authorization. He also paid himself more than $2.2 million in unauthorized management fees which he used to enrich himself through cash withdrawals, personal credit card payments and the purchases of real estate, jewelry, home improvements and liquor.

“Valente made false statements to investors to persuade them to part with their hard earned money so he could line his own pockets with millions of dollars and submitted false documents to the Internal Revenue Service to cover his tracks,” said U.S. Attorney Hartunian.

Valente has been released pending his sentencing. He faces a significant prison sentence and fines for his crimes. The U.S. Attorney's Office will continue to pursue aggressively those who use investment fraud to fleece folks of their savings and retirement money.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/schenectady-man-pleads-guilty-securities-fraud-mail-fraud-and-tax-charges