ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A Rochester man was sentenced in Pennsylvania to 20 years in prison for mail fraud that stemmed from a nationwide investment fraud scheme.
Perry Santillo, 42, previously pleaded guilty, according to US Attorney General Gerard Karam. Santillo admitted to defrauding investors as part of a Ponzi scheme.
He also admitted as part of his plea that his scheme took in approximately $115 million in fraudulent investments, which resulted in a total loss to investors of $70.7 million.
Santillo was the founder, manager, and CEO of First Nationle Solution, LLC. — a company that offered and sold securities in companies to investors. However, the companies didn’t conduct their businesses, but instead issued promissory notes, soliciting, and misappropriating investor funds.
“Most of the victims were retirees, and many of them lost everything they had saved,” said U.S. Attorney Karam. “This sentence, the maximum the Court could impose under the law in this case, should send a message to would-be fraudsters intending to run their schemes in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. And that message is: Think again.”
Santillo had previously pled guilty in New York in a related case and was sentenced to 17 years in prison and had to pay restitutiom to all victims.
