C. Fla. F'closure Rescue Scammer Gets 10 Years In Ripoff Using Phony Non-Profit 'Front'; Described By Prosecutor As "A Kind Of Slow-Motion Theft"
- Peter J. Porcelli, a Pinellas businessman who made millions in telemarketing and owned the world-champion Tampa Bay Smokers fast-pitch softball team, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison [] for defrauding dozens of local homeowners with a foreclosure relief
scam.(1)
- Using a phony nonprofit, Porcelli promised residents facing foreclosure he would save their homes. But victims instead saw illegal loan fees, annual interest rates ballooning as high as 260 percent and a provision to forfeit their homes if payments were missed. Prosecutor Thomas N. Palermo called Porcelli's lending operation "a kind of slow-motion theft."
For more, see Belleair Beach millionaire scam artist Peter Porcelli finally faces justice.
See also The Tampa Tribune: Pinellas man gets 10 years in foreclosure scam.
(1) U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew reportedly deferred the start of Porcelli's ten-year prison sentence until such time that he finishes off an eight-year sentence he is currently serving for an earlier, unrelated telemarketing fraud conviction.
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