Former Gitto/Global Executive Sentenced for Fraud

BOSTON—A Leominster man was sentenced today in federal court for conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a multi-million-dollar scheme run from a former plastics company in Lunenburg, the Gitto/Global Corporation.

GARY C. GITTO, 49, of Lunenburg, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 59 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was further ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $23 million. GITTO previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering on October 4, 2010.

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the court that had the case proceeded to trial, the government’s evidence would have proven that during the period 1998 through September 2004, the principals of Gitto/Global Corporation, a plastics manufacturer in Lunenburg, were engaged in a complex scheme to defraud the company’s secured lenders by systematically overstating the company’s sales and inventory, thereby inducing the lenders to advance millions of dollars that would not have been advanced had the company accurately reported its assets. In order to support the false claims, numerous Gitto/Global employees spent hours of every business day generating supporting false documentation including invoices, bills of lading, and packing slips. GITTO was an owner and officer of Gitto/Global. A co-defendant and company co-owner, FRANK MILLER, who was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the fraud, was previously sentenced to 87 months in prison. Two remaining co-defendants, WILLIAM DEAKIN and LOUIS PELLEGRINE, JR. are scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division; and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori J. Holik and Auditor Thomas J. Zappala of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.

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