Wolcott Man Sentenced to Prison for Participating in Two Criminal Schemes

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DANIEL MONTEIRO, 36, of Wolcott, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to 13 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for participating in two separate criminal conspiracies.

On March 20, 2013, MONTEIRO pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make false statements to the FEC and to impede the FEC’s enforcement of federal campaign finance laws.  In pleading guilty to this charge, MONTEIRO admitted that participated in a scheme to conceal from the public the true origin of contributions that Roll-Your-Own (“RYO”) smoke shop owners were making to the Chris Donovan for Congress campaign during the 2012 election cycle. During the campaign, MONTEIRO agreed to serve as a conduit for a $2,500 campaign contribution by writing a check in that amount to the campaign and then accepting $2,500 in cash in return.  MONTEIRO knew that the purpose of the contributions was to obtain a commitment from Chris Donovan, who at the time was also the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, to defeat legislation that would strip RYO cigarettes of their tax exempt status.  He also understood that the conduit nature of the contribution would prevent the public from drawing a connection between the true source of the contributions and the ultimate failure of any harmful legislation.  MONTEIRO further understood that the RYO smoke shop owners had made several additional contributions through other conduits, including his brother and an employee.

On May 21, 2013, MONTEIRO pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.  In pleading guilty to this charge, MONTEIRO admitted that from May to September 2007, he helped recruit two straw borrowers to purchase a total of five houses from co-defendant Filippos Milios, the head of an extensive mortgage fraud conspiracy.  MONTEIRO referred these borrowers to Milios knowing that they would not be making down payments on their purchases or living in them as primary residences.  Milios used money obtained from the mortgages to pay private lenders.  MONTEIRO collected approximately $15,000 in referral fees from Milios, and knew that the fees paid to him were not being disclosed to lenders.  Lenders suffered a loss of approximately $783,000 as a result of the five fraudulent transactions in which MONTEIRO was a participant.

MONTEIRO was ordered to forfeit $15,000 and pay restitution in the amount of $783,000.

On January 6, 2015, Milios was sentenced to 97 months of imprisonment for orchestrating the mortgage fraud scheme that involved more than 50 properties and resulted in nearly $5.7 million in losses to lenders.

The conduit campaign contribution conspiracy was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher M. Mattei.  The mortgage fraud conspiracy was investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David T. Huang and William J. Nardini.