Man sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for fraud

A four-time convicted telemarketer was sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison Tuesday for his role in a scheme that defrauded struggling small businesses out of millions of dollars.

Joseph Marfoglia, 52, who is in federal custody, also was ordered to pay a share of $13.9 million in restitution to thousands of victims across the country and serve three years of supervised release after prison.

Marfoglia and his lawyer, William Gamage, blamed his legal troubles on a 40-year drug addiction and asked for a lighter sentence because of his cooperation with prosecutors in the massive telemarketing case.

But U.S. District Judge Andrew Gordon sided with prosecutors who sought the 125-month sentence behind bars.

"This seems to be your profession over the last 20-plus years," Gordon told Marfoglia. "Clearly, you don't respect the law and other people's property."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Griswold said Marfoglia has not accepted responsibility for his actions despite his guilty plea.

"This defendant has shown over the last 23 years that he cannot stop committing telemarketing fraud," Griswold said. "The government has no confidence that this defendant is going to stop defrauding people."

Marfoglia got involved in the latest telemarketing scheme in 2007 while he was on supervised release for a previous fraud conviction, Griswold said. Earlier this year, with the case still pending, he admitted participating in yet another scheme investigated by Henderson police.

Marfoglia pleaded guilty in May to a single federal count of wire fraud in the telemarketing scheme, which is alleged to have continued into 2010. This is his fourth telemarketing conviction.

Prosecutors say the conspirators made phony promises to help the small businesses obtain federal grants to stay afloat in return for a series of fees.

Seven other people, including alleged ringleader Mark Bausch, were indicted separately in December in the scheme, which prosecutors say took in more than $26 million nationwide from 3,500 victims.

Bausch claims in court papers that FBI agents broke promises not to charge him in return for his cooperation in the case. But prosecutors contend they can prove Bausch had no formal cooperation agreement.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ