Post by ukipa on Jun 20, 2013 19:33:10 GMT 4
Collection Agency Executive Pleads To Conspiracy In Bank Bribery Scam
BY HILDA MUÑOZ, hmunoz@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
BRIDGEPORT—
An executive at a collection agency involved in a multi-million dollar scam pleaded guilty in federal court this week to one count of conspiring to commit bank bribery, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Patrick Pinto, 44, of Bohemia, N.Y., faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 9.
Pinto was vice president of Oxford Collection Agency, a private company with offices in New York, Pennsylvania and Florida that primarily collected debt.
The company defrauded its lender, Webster Bank, and investors, clients and commercial debtors of more than $12 million. It also secured business with banking clients by bribing bank officials or paying them kickbacks, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Pinto and other Oxford executives sent monthly payments of $2,500 to $3,500 hidden in cigar boxes to an executive of U.S. Bank in Ohio.
Pinto's father, Richard Pinto, and his brother, Peter Pinto, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering for their roles in the scam, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Richard Pinto was sentenced in January to 60 months in prison, but has since died. Peter Pinto is awaiting sentencing.
Other executives, Randall Silver, Charles Harris, and Carlos Novelli pleaded guilty to various charges in December of 2012. They are also awaiting sentencing.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Connecticut Securities, Commodities and Investor Fraud Task Force.