NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A disbarred New York attorney was sentenced today to 43 months in prison for his involvement in a ticket resale fraud scheme and a real estate investment fraud conspiracy that bilked multiple victims out of more than $3 million, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Pasquale Stiso, a/k/a “Pat Stiso,” 55, of New Rochelle, New York, was previously convicted of all 10 counts of a superseding indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, six substantive counts of wire fraud, and three counts of money laundering. He was convicted following a seven-day trial before U.S. District Judge William J. Martini, who imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and evidence at trial:
Since 2011, co-defendant Paul Mancuso, 49, of Glen Rock, New Jersey, held himself out as an investor, broker, and developer of various purported investments. Mancuso obtained from his victims substantial investments for various projects that, in fact, either did not exist at all or in which Mancuso had no actual involvement. Stiso held himself out as an individual who was working with Mancuso on various purported projects. Many of the victims of Stiso and Mancuso’s schemes lost all or substantially all of the money they invested with Mancuso and Stiso. Many even lost all or most of their life savings.
Stiso and Mancuso falsely represented to some victims that they would purchase event tickets, such as tickets to New York Giants football games, New York Yankees playoff games, the Super Bowl, and other sporting events and concerts, at a lower or wholesale rate, and then resell them to members of the public at an inflated rate, creating profits for their investors. In reality, Stiso and Mancuso did not buy tickets with their victims’ money.
In one of the real estate schemes, Stiso and Mancuso falsely represented to victims that they were investors in a real estate development project in Valley Cottage, New York, and that investor money would be used to purchase an interest in real property. The real property interest would then be resold at an increased price, creating profits for their investors.
In reality, Stiso and Mancuso did not invest in any such real estate project with their victims’ money. Instead, they engaged in monetary transactions designed to funnel, and in many instances launder, the victims’ investments for their own benefit, including paying illegal gambling debts and money owed to loan sharks. Stiso and Mancuso were heavily involved in illegal gambling pursuits and both owed substantial sums of money to loan sharks and one of their bookmakers.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Martini sentenced Stiso to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $460,000.
Mancuso previously pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring with Stiso to commit wire fraud and awaits sentencing.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher, special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, and criminal investigators of the U.S. Attorney’s Office with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Francisco J. Navarro and Anthony J. Mahajan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.