Tag Archives: Investment Adviser Fraud

Financial Fraud: Louis F. Petrossi Was Convicted On Securities Fraud, Investment Adviser Fraud, And Wire Fraud

<p>New York Investment Adviser Convicted Of Defrauding Investors<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>HARRISBURG – Louis F&period; Petrossi&comma; age 77&comma; the founder and president of the Wealth Research Institute&comma; a purported investment research firm&comma; was convicted yesterday by a federal jury in the Middle District of Pennsylvania&comma; on three counts of securities fraud&comma; investment adviser fraud&comma; and wire fraud for his role in a scheme to defraud investors&period; The four-day trial was held before Chief United States District Court Judge Christopher C&period; Conner in Harrisburg&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>David J&period; Freed&comma; United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and Richard P&period; Donoghue&comma; United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York&comma; jointly announced the verdict&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The evidence at trial established that Petrossi falsely claimed to investors that money they had invested in purported investment funds&comma; Chadwicke Partners LLC &lpar;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Chadwicke Partners”&rpar; and Chadwicke Ventures LLC &lpar;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Chadwicke Ventures”&rpar;&comma; would be used to invest in startup companies&period; Instead&comma; the defendant used the investors’ money to pay for personal expenses and issued fraudulent statements that overstated both the cost and value of the securities held by Chadwicke&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;55656" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-55656" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;financial-fraud-louis-f-petrossi-was-convicted-on-securities-fraud-investment-adviser-fraud-and-wire-fraud&sol;financial-fraud-louis-f-petrossi-was-convicted-on-securities-fraud&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-55656"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-55656" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;03&sol;Financial-Fraud-Louis-F-Petrossi-Was-Convicted-On-Securities-Fraud-300x227&period;png" alt&equals;"Louis F&period; Petrossi Was Convicted On Securities Fraud" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"227" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-55656" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Financial Fraud&colon; Louis F&period; Petrossi Was Convicted On Securities Fraud<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The evidence also showed that between January 2015 and January 2017&comma; Petrossi solicited more than &dollar;1&period;8 million in investments in Chadwicke Partners from more than 25 investors nationwide including an investor residing in the Middle District of Pennsylvania&period; Petrossi promoted Chadwicke as providing the opportunity to invest in high-profile startups companies such as Lyft&comma; Inc&period;&comma; Maplebear Inc&period;&comma; Pinterest Inc&period;&comma; Spotify Technology SA&comma; and Palantir Technologies&comma; Inc&period; among others&period; Petrossi invested approximately &dollar;665&comma;400 in privately held startup companies but used more than &dollar;1&period;1 million in investor funds to pay for personal expenses&comma; including payments to BMW&comma; renovations to his home and to pay his personal legal fees&period; In or around August 2016&comma; Petrossi sent emails to Chadwicke investors attaching a spreadsheet that contained false and misleading statements about the purchase price and value of the securities held by the Chadwicke funds in order to conceal his misappropriation of investor money&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On May 3&comma; 2016&comma; Petrossi was arrested in Nevada pursuant to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York for his role in a securities fraud scheme involving the securities of ForceField Energy Inc&period; Under the terms of Petrossi’s pre-trial release&comma; the defendant was prohibited from employment &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;directly involving the handling of investors&period;” Between May 3&comma; 2016 and approximately January 2017&comma; Petrossi continued to engage in the Chadwicke scheme by emailing the August 2016 spreadsheet and soliciting &dollar;210&comma;000 in investor funds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Petrossi faces a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment on each count of conviction when he is sentenced by Chief Judge Conner of the Middle District of Pennsylvania&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Petrossi was convicted in May 2017 by a federal jury in Brooklyn for his role in the ForceField Energy Inc&period; market manipulation scheme&period; He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment when he is sentenced by United States District Judge Brian M&period; Cogan of the Eastern District of New York&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;55661" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-55661" style&equals;"width&colon; 150px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignleft"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;financial-fraud-louis-f-petrossi-was-convicted-on-securities-fraud-investment-adviser-fraud-and-wire-fraud&sol;louis-f-petrossi&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-55661"><img class&equals;"size-thumbnail wp-image-55661" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;03&sol;Louis-F-Petrossi-150x150&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Louis F&period; Petrossi" width&equals;"150" height&equals;"150" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-55661" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Louis F&period; Petrossi<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Assistant United States Attorney Mark E&period; Bini of the Eastern District of New York and Special Assistant United States Attorney John O&period; Enright of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division prosecuted the case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The matter was investigated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines&comma; the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors&comma; including the nature&comma; circumstances and seriousness of the offense&semi; the history and characteristics of the defendant&semi; and the need to punish the defendant&comma; protect the public and provide for the defendant&&num;8217&semi;s educational&comma; vocational and medical needs&period; For these reasons&comma; the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-mdpa&sol;pr&sol;new-york-investment-adviser-convicted-defrauding-investors">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;