Warrington Man Sentenced To Five Years For Investment Fraud

PHILADELPHIA, PA — A Warrington man was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in devising and participating in schemes to defraud three financial institutions out of millions of dollars, the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced Friday.

Dean Rossi, 55, will also be subject to four years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution and $1.3 million in forfeiture by U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky.

From December 2006 until March 2012, Rossi and his co-conspirators participated in schemes to defraud Nova Bank, First Cornerstone Bank and Leesport Bank, which later became VIST Financial Bank, out of more than $4 million in connection with multiple real estate closings for small residential properties in working class neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area.

In each scheme, Rossi and his partners obtained fraudulent mortgage loans and made misrepresentations regarding the disbursement of those funds and his income, The U.S. Attorney's Office said.

While the banks were able to mitigate some of their fraud losses, the banks and their insurers still suffered losses exceeding $2.8 million, with Rossi personally pocketing a total of $1.38 million, prosecutors said.

“The scope and duration of Rossi’s fraud are simply stunning,” U.S. Attorney McSwain said in a news release. “He stole millions of dollars from bank lenders and preyed upon residential neighborhoods – and then attempted to cover his tracks with lies. That sort of white collar crime deserves significant prison time, which is what Rossi has earned.”

The case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Dubnoff and Elizabeth Ray.