PROVIDENCE, RI—Mario Perretta, 36, of
Cranston, Rhode Island, owner of M&M Ironworks in Providence, was sentenced
in U.S. District Court in Providence today to 96 months in federal prison for
bilking nearly two dozen investors in his company out of nearly $4.3 million,
announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha; Richard DesLauriers, Special
Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Office; and William P. Offord,
Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Office of the Internal Revenue
Service-Criminal Investigation.
U.S. District Court Judge John J.
McConnell, Jr. ordered Perretta to pay full restitution to the 23 victims he
defrauded, totaling $4,275,745.83. Perretta was also ordered to serve three
years of supervised release upon completion of his term of incarceration.
Perretta pleaded guilty on January 31, 2012 to eight counts of wire fraud and
two counts of tax evasion.
At the time of his guilty plea, Perretta
admitted to the court that he promised investors high rates of return on
investments into projects that did not exist. Instead, Perretta admitted that
he spent the majority of money for gambling purposes, to purchase personal
items, and to pay for personal expenses. M&M Ironworks performs structural
steel work, primarily as a subcontractor on construction projects.
Perretta admitted to the court that in
late 2007, he hired an individual to recruit investors in his company. Perretta
provided the employee with false and fraudulent information regarding projects
that did not exist in order to induce investors to provide money to his
company. Among the projects Perretta fraudulently claimed his company was
involved in included the construction of a YMCA on Martha’s Vineyard,
Massachusetts and a construction project at MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort and
Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
Perretta admitted to the court that he
had an attorney draft promissory notes, which he gave to investors, outlining
the terms of their investments and falsely promised a high rate of return,
around 12-14 percent. Perretta admitted that he pressed investors to provide
him with cash investments in M&M by falsely claiming that the company was
in dire need of immediate cash infusions in order to continue operations. In
addition, Perretta falsely represented to the investors that their investments
would be safe because the construction projects were insured.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant
U.S. Attorney Luis M. Matos. The matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.
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