Folsom man pleads guilty in $40M investment scam
Corporate Law
The president of a Northern California financial firm has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in an investment scam that bilked more than 300 people out of roughly $40 million.
Federal prosecutors in Sacramento say Anthony Vassallo and his associates collected about $80 million, returning half to clients to lull them into thinking they were getting a good return on their investment.
The 33-year-old Folsom man pleaded guilty Friday. He could face 16 years in prison under a plea agreement when he is sentenced May 3.
His Equity Investment Management and Trading Inc. promised investors risk-free, 36 percent annual returns, but he put their money into high-risk investments and personal luxuries, including a $103,000 Lexus for his wife.
Investigators say he met many of his victims through the Mormon church.
Related listings
-
High court won't hear appeal from former Qwest CEO
Corporate Law 07/23/2017The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from former Qwest Communications International Inc. CEO Joseph Nacchio seeking an $18 million tax refund on money he gained from illegal stock sales.The justices on Monday left in place a lower court ruling that...
-
Court: Ignorance about allergy medicine crime no excuse
Corporate Law 07/23/2017Just because a man previously convicted of methamphetamine-related crimes didn't know it was now illegal for him to buy over-the-counter allergy medicine given his criminal history doesn't mean his rights were violated, a divided North Carolina Supre...
-
Court: Ohio E-School Can't Delay Repayment of $60M to State
Corporate Law 07/03/2017ECOT's reported enrollment of 15,000 Ohio students makes it one of the largest online charter schools in the U.S.Democrats jumped on the court's decision to pile criticism on the school, which has struggled for years against attacks on its enrollment...
USCIS to Begin Accepting Applications under the International Entrepreneur Rule
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today it is taking steps to implement the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), in accordance with a recent court decision.
Although the IER was published during the previous administration with an effective date of July 17, 2017, it did not take effect because the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule on July 11, 2017, delaying the IER’s effective date until March 14, 2018. This delay rule was meant to give USCIS time to review the IER and, if necessary, to issue a rule proposing to remove the IER program regulations.
However, a Dec. 1, 2017, ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in National Venture Capital Association v. Duke vacated USCIS’ final rule to delay the effective date. The Dec. 1, 2017, court decision is a result of litigation filed in district court on Sept. 19, 2017, which challenged the delay rule.