Teen Sentenced In Bank, Internet Fraud Schemes

Date: June 16, 2004
Source: NBC4.tv


According to NBC4.tv, a 19-year-old Orange County teenager was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison Monday and ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution in separate bank and Internet fraud schemes.

Cole Bartiromo pleaded guilty in March to federal conspiracy and bank fraud charges for selling items on eBay that he never sent and for trying to persuade and bank employee to wire him thousands of dollars.

Court documents say the teen and two co-defendants tried to persuade an employee at Wells Fargo bank in Mission Viejo to let them "borrow" all the money in a customer's account and gamble with the money through a British sports book.

Bartiromo's indictment says the teen claimed he would return the money to the account before the owner would notice it was missing.

In 2002 Bartiromo paid $1.2 million dollars in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission after bilking investors through his "Invest Better 2001" Web site.

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