Fraud mastermind gets 15-plus years in prison
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Former Bennington lawyer Andrew Capoccia speaks to debt collection professionals in this 1999 file photo. ALBANY TIMES UNION |
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By DANIEL BARLOW Southern Vermont Bureau - Published: February 4, 2006
BRATTLEBORO — The former owner of a fraudulent debt-reduction center was sentenced to serve more than 15 years in prison Friday for bilking thousands of clients out of several million dollars.
Andrew Capoccia, 63, of Guilderland, N.Y., was led out of federal court in handcuffs Friday afternoon after Judge J. Garvan Murtha sentenced him to spend 188 months in prison and to repay more than $7 million that he stole from clients seeking financial debt relief.
Even during his sentencing Friday — 10 months after a jury found him guilty on 13 counts of interstate transportation of stolen funds and mail and wire fraud — Capoccia continued to claim he was innocent of the crimes associated with his former business, Law Centers for Consumer Protection in Bennington.
Murtha called Capoccia's crimes "horrendous" because they targeted victims who were trying to avoid bankruptcy and because he purposely surrounded himself with "weak" associates he could control and intimidate to maintain his fraudulent practices.
"This is judgment day as far as I am concerned," Murtha said as he ordered Capoccia jailed immediately.
Capoccia, a New York attorney until his disbarment in 2000, had filed a motion earlier this week asking for two years of deferred prison time to prepare an appeal.
Friday's sentencing concludes a case that began with the FBI raiding the company's offices in 2002, and which eventually snared six men, including a former Bennington legislator. Capoccia founded the law center in 1998 in New York state, court documents state, but sold it to Howard Sinnott, 55, of Bennington two years later.
The firm later went bankrupt and Sinnott was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home confinement in December 2005 as part of a plea agreement he reached with prosecutors. He was also ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples told the judge Friday that prosecutors are still determining the number of victims in the case and the total amount stolen. He estimated there to be more than 5,000 victims found so far and the financial fraud total to be close to $23 million.
Waples said some of the restitution will come from nearly $3 million prosecutors seized from accounts held by Capoccia's wife. Murtha ordered restitution from Capoccia totaling $7,256,433.
Three other co-defendants in the case were ordered last year to pay more than $800,000 in restitution.
Capoccia did not speak in court Friday, but his attorney, Thomas Zonay, said he maintains his innocence. Zonay was unsuccessful in seeking a reduced sentence for Capoccia when Murtha ruled against him on five sentencing enhancements.
"This is not a man who has led a life of crime," Zonay said. "This is a man who has been a fair and good citizen."
Waples disagreed, describing a white-collar criminal who abused the trust of his clients by stealing their "children's education savings and mortgage payments."
"They went to Mr. Capoccia for help and only suffered more," he said.
In an afternoon session Friday, Jerry Forkes, the former executive director of the Law Centers, was sentenced to two years' probation and ordered to pay $20,000 restitution as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. Forkes testified against Capoccia at his trial last year.
Forkes was the first of several people associated with the Law Centers to cut a plea agreement, according to court records. During his sentencing Friday, his attorney, David Silver, and Waples asked the judge not to give Forkes any prison time for his role.
Waples said Forkes supplied essential information and testimony in the case, even before he reached a plea deal. He characterized the 57-year-old former military man as the "least culpable" of the men charged in the case and the only one who didn't benefit directly.
"I made the biggest mistake of my life and hurt so many people, including my clients and my family," Forkes told Murtha Friday. "I am totally apologetic."
Contact Daniel Barlow at daniel.barlow@rutlandherald.com.
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