Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, today announced that CHARLES FAMILETTI, JR., a former Vice-President at HSBC Bank, was convicted Monday evening in Manhattan federal court of attempted sex trafficking of a minor, distribution of child pornography, transportation of child pornography, and possession of child pornography, following a five-day trial before Chief United States District Judge Loretta A. Preska.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “In addition to exploiting children through his possession, receipt, and distribution of child pornography, as the jury found, Charles Familetti tried to pay an undercover agent for sex with an 11-year-old child. Thanks to our partners at the FBI, Familetti was arrested before he could personally harm any children. The jury’s verdict should send a message to child predators that their crimes will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

As established by the evidence at trial:

FAMILETTI was arrested in July 2013 following a Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) sting operation in which he agreed to pay an undercover FBI agent $500 in order to have sexual relations with an 11-year old boy. During that operation, an FBI agent also downloaded several files containing child pornography from FAMILETTI via a publicly available peer-to-peer file sharing network. On July 15, 2013, FAMILETTI met with the undercover agent to confirm the agreement and make the final arrangements to obtain the supposed 11-year old boy. FAMILETTI then took the agent to an ATM, withdrew the money to cover the full $500 fee for the boy, and gave the agent $100 as a down payment. After the meeting, FAMILETTI returned to his apartment in midtown Manhattan to await the boy’s arrival. At the agreed-upon time for the boy to arrive, the FBI instead executed a search warrant at FAMILETTI’s apartment. While executing the search warrant, the FBI located an SD card containing over 2,000 image files and over 500 video files of child pornography hidden inside a loaf of bread in FAMILETTI’s refrigerator. It was further established at trial that FAMILETTI carried the SD card with him when he traveled.

FAMILETTI, 48, of San Francisco, California, is set to be sentenced on March 15, 2016, before Judge Preska. FAMILETTI faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison on the attempted sex trafficking of a minor charge. FAMILETTI faces a mandatory minimum term of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each of the distribution and transportation of child pornography charges. FAMILETTI faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the possession of child pornography charge.

The statutory maximum and minimum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the Judge.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding efforts of the FBI.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Patrick Egan, Jessica Fender, and Sarah Krissoff are in charge of the prosecution.

The FBI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through their switchboard at (212) 384 -1000. It is staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.