Home San Francisco Press Releases 2010 North Beach Investment Consultant Indicted in Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme
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North Beach Investment Consultant Indicted in Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme

U.S. Attorney’s Office August 03, 2010
  • Northern District of California (415) 436-7200

SAN FRANCISCO—A federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted Joseph J. Viola, aka Giuseppe Viola, of San Francisco, today with mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced. The indictment alleges that Viola operated a fraudulent investment consulting business and caused investors to lose approximately $7 million.

According to the indictment, Viola, 59, deceived investors by, among other things, (1) representing to them in monthly account statements that their accounts were profitable, when in truth, the investors had suffered heavy losses; (2) sending fake account statements to investors that inflated account balances and reflected trading activity that did not occur; (3) diverting investors’ funds for non-investment purposes, including, among other improper expenditures, approximately $2 million on a venture to design, produce and sell a sports car known as the “SV 9 Competizione”; and (4) making purported “distribution payments” to investors from funds that were unrelated to successful investment activity.

The indictment also alleges that Viola possessed and used, without lawful authority, the name, date of birth and social security number of a person referred to in the indictment as RDN, to open and maintain bank, trading and brokerage accounts through which Viola conducted his fraud scheme as RDN’s purported trustee, when Viola knew that RDN was deceased for many years prior to the dates on which Viola used RDN’s identity.

The maximum statutory penalty for each of the sixteen counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1341, and for each of the six counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1343, is twenty years and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, plus restitution. The maximum penalty for each of the two counts of aggravated identity theft in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1028A(a)(1) is two years imprisonment in addition to the punishment provided for violation of the mail and wire fraud statutes. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. Section 3553.

Thomas E. Stevens is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Ponly Tu. The prosecution is the result of a five-month investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Please note, an indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Viola must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Further Information:

Case #: CR 10-0588 WHA

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Jack Gillund at (415) 436-6599 or by email at Jack.Gillund@usdoj.gov.

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