Florida Man Sentenced On Fraud Charges

Boston – A Florida man was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston today for his role in an advance-fee scheme.

Frank Barecich, 35, of Hollywood, Fla., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to one year in prison and three years of supervised release. In April 2014, Barecich pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 14 counts of wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Between 2007 and 2011, Barecich participated in a conspiracy to defraud developers who were seeking financing for large-scale alternative energy and commercial projects by pretending to be a representative of a multi-billion dollar fund located in Luxembourg. Barecich and his co-conspirators convinced developers to give deposits in amounts between $300,000 and $1 million to this fake fund with the promise that the deposit would be fully refundable. Barecich and his co-conspirators spent the developers' deposit money, and the fake fund never financed any projects. In perpetrating this scheme, the defendant continually reassured developers about the safety of their deposits even as the deposits were being spent.

Barecich’s co-defendants, Evripides Georgiadis, John Condo, and Michael Zanetti, have all been convicted. In May 2014, Zanetti was sentenced to 37 months in prison. Georgiadis and Condo are awaiting sentencing.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; Susan Hensley, Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration; and Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Alex J. Grant and Karen L. Goodwin of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Unit.