Former Arrow Electronics vice president Michael Vergato and his business partner Mark Perlstein were each handed hefty sentences for their roles in a $1.9 million data management fraud scheme. Vergato, 52, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison and fined $20,000, while Perlstein, 60, received a 25-month sentence and a $15,000 fine.
Both men were jointly ordered to pay restitution of $1,949,023. Vergato had previously served as a vice president at Arrow Electronics, where he supervised database performance tuning. With Perlstein’s company, Oracle Performance Tuning and Optimization, LLC (OPTO), they bilked the data management company out of nearly $2 million by submitting 21 fraudulent contracts and invoices.
After their prison terms, Vergato and Perlstein will each serve three years of supervised release. According to evidence presented at trial, Vergato used his stepdaughter’s identity to conduct business on behalf of OPTO. No salaries were paid by OPTO, and the company did not issue any contractor forms.
United States Attorney Peter McNeilly emphasized that corporate fraud undermines confidence in the business community and harms employees, customers, and shareholders. “These defendants’ greed has earned each of them years in federal prison, and they have to pay back every dollar they took,” McNeilly said.
FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek noted that the scheme was a plot to defraud their companies and line their own pockets until it was uncovered. “They lined their own pockets until their fraudulent scheme was uncovered, and now they will pay the consequences,” Michalek added.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nicole Cassidy, Bradley Giles, and Bob Brown. United States District Judge Nina Y. Wang presided over the sentencing.
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Key Facts
- State: Colorado
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes|White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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