Ex-Broker Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison Over Ponzi Scheme

What You Need to Know

An ex-broker sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for his role in running a Ponzi scheme has now been sentenced to 20 years for mail fraud related to the same nationwide scheme.
Perry Santillo admitted to taking at least 1,000 investors out of more than $100 million combined over the span of more than a decade.
In 2018, the SEC filed charges and obtained an asset freeze against him.

An ex-registered broker who was barred by the Nevada Securities Division in 2019 and sentenced to 17.5 years in prison earlier this year in New York for his role in running a Ponzi scheme has now been sentenced to 20 years in prison for mail fraud related to the same nationwide scheme, according to court documents.

This time, Perry Santillo of Rochester, New York, was sentenced on Thursday before Judge Malachy Mannion in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The 20 years (240 months) will run concurrently with the earlier sentence in the Western District of New York.

Upon release from prison, Santillo will be on supervised release for three years. Judge Mannion also ordered him to pay total restitution of $1.3 million to his victims.

Santillo pleaded guilty on Nov. 4, 2019, to mail fraud, admitting he defrauded investors across the U.S. as part of a Ponzi scheme that included victims in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Santillo admitted as part of his plea that the scheme took about $115 million in fraudulent investments and resulted in a total loss to investors of $70.7 million, U.S. Attorney David J. Freed announced at the time.

Santillo was a founder, member, manager and CEO of First Nationle Solution LLC and offered and sold securities in First Nationle, Percipience Global Corporation, United RL Capital Services and other issuers to investors. Santillo also provided investment advice to those same investors, according to Freed and court documents.

As part of the scheme, Santillo and others bought books of business from investment professionals, including registered representatives and investment advisors across the U.S.

In the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Santillo and those who aided and abetted him bought a book of business from an advisor and conducted their fraud scheme under the guise of an “investment business” in Scotrun, Monroe County, using several business names, including Advice and Life Group, Poconos Investments, First American Securities and Financial Planners Group of America.

Santillo, with the help of others, then solicited investors from within those acquired books of business to withdraw money from traditional investments such as annuities, and reinvest the funds in issuers controlled by Santillo and others, sometimes without disclosing that Santillo and his confederates controlled those issuers, according to Freed and court documents.