February 16, 2010 - Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that PAMELA BOZZUTO, 28, of Madison Street, Hartford, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of perjury.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on April 30, 2007, BOZZUTO, at the direction of a co-conspirator, registered a business with the City of Hartford in the name of “Specialty Risk Services,” listing the business address as 157 Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford. At no time did the actual Specialty Risk Services LLC of Hartford, a part of the Hartford Insurance Group, grant BOZZUTO permission to use its name. On May 1, 2007, BOZZUTO opened a business checking account at TD Banknorth, using the name “Specialty Risk Services.” The following day, BOZZUTO deposited a stolen check in the amount of $146,729.97 payable to Specialty Risk Services LLC into the TD Banknorth account she had opened. The check had been given to her by a co-conspirator.
On May 11, 2007, BOZZUTO withdrew $137,000 in cashiers’ checks and cash from two separate TD Banknorth branches. Then, at the direction of a co-conspirator, BOZZUTO cashed several of the cashiers’ checks at other TD Banknorth branches and at the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos, and gave most of the proceeds to her co-conspirators.
On September 12, 2007, FBI special agents investigating this fraud scheme interviewed BOZZUTO. BOZZUTO admitted her involvement in the scheme, and identified another individual, who she stated was her “boyfriend,” as the individual who provided her with the stolen check, instructed her how to open the fraudulent bank account and negotiate the stolen check, and to whom she gave the proceeds.
On March 11, 2009, BOZZUTO waived indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and identified, under oath, the same individual whom she had identified to FBI agents as the individual with whom she conspired in the fraud scheme. Then, on April 14, 2009, in testimony given under oath before a federal grand jury sitting in Hartford, BOZZUTO again identified the same individual as her co-conspirator. She also testified that her relationship with the individual had lasted several weeks and that he had lived with her during that period.
On April 14, 2009, the grand jury returned an indictment charging BOZZUTO’s identified “boyfriend” and others with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud.
On September 24, 2009, during an interview with federal agents and government attorneys, BOZZUTO stated that her earlier statements and testimony about the individual she had identified were false. BOZZUTO stated that she did not even know the individual that she identified, but had been instructed by her real boyfriend and his uncle, with whom she had actually conspired, to tell authorities that she had conspired with the other individual if she was caught.
Judge Arterton has scheduled sentencing for May 7, 2010, at which time BOZZUTO faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years, a fine of up to $250,000, and restitution in the amount of $137,053.40.
The charges against the falsely identified individual have been dismissed.
This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James G. Genco.
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