He’s going from one big house to another.
A failed lawyer and movie executive from Florida has been sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison for stealing $7.2 million in Covid-19 relief funds that he used to buy luxury cars and a 12,500-square-foot mansion on a 12-acre estate.
Don Cisternino, 47, of Chuluota, Fla., pleaded guilty in September in federal court in Orlando to wire fraud and identity theft charges for the scam in which he submitted applications for pandemic aid programs. Cisternino claimed he had a film and theater production and marketing business that had 441 employees, when in reality it had none.
Using stolen social security numbers, prosecutors say Cisternino made phony claims that his company, MagnifiCo Inc., had a monthly payroll of over $2.8 million. The U.S. government approved him in 2020 for an emergency loan of $7.2 million, prosecutors said.
Cisternino then used the pandemic aid money to purchase the $3.5 million home. He lived in the seven-bedroom mansion complete with a full movie theater, five-stable horse barn, tennis court, swimming pool and an English-style pub, with his girlfriend.
Prior to receiving the loan, court records showed that Cisternino had been living in a modest apartment in Tampa, Fla., with his girlfriend, but had stopped paying rent and had been facing eviction.
Prosecutors also say Cisternino used the loan to purchase a $251,000 Mercedes-Maybach S650X, a $90,000 Lincoln Navigator, and to…
