BOSTON — A Saugus loan broker was sentenced to more than three years in prison and ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution by a federal court judge for operating a scheme that defrauded small businesses across the country.
Joseph L. Angelo Jr., 59, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of wire fraud in September of 2017.
From November 2011 to March 2015, Angelo defrauded 10 small business owners more than $1 million by representing that his companies — Lease One Corp. and Palmtree Finance & Funding LLC — were brokers for obtaining loans for small businesses.
Customers were required to deliver what he said were fully refundable deposits for loans that he said had been approved and would be funded within a few days. In fact, none of the loans had actually been approved and there were no funds available.
When the small business owners complained about delays in receiving the money, Angelo promised that their deposits would be refunded, but did not give back any of the cash or secure funding for any of the requested loans.
Angelo was sentenced in federal court in Boston Monday by U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 40 months in prison, three months of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $1.1 million.
