Montreal grandparent scammer spent victims’ cash on cocaine, automobiles and events: courtroom paperwork

The Canadian man sentenced final week for his function in a grandparent rip-off lived a lavish beachfront life-style, drove a Porsche and acquired cocaine utilizing cash stolen from susceptible seniors, in response to the U.S. prosecutors who put him in jail.

Sentencing paperwork filed in U.S. courtroom say that Stefano Zanetti, 44, operated — or appeared to function — a profitable watersports rental firm in Panama whereas he co-ordinated a multimillion-dollar fraud operation.

“In reality, Zanetti was the lynchpin in an international conspiracy designed to systematically steal money from elderly victims in the United States,” Jeffrey R. Bengel, assistant U.S. legal professional, wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

“Zanetti lived large on the proceeds of his crimes for years — enjoying beachfront property, driving a Porsche, owning boats and jet skis, and buying cocaine.”

The sentencing paperwork filed in Zanetti’s case — and in a number of different circumstances of males accused alongside him — present how the community co-ordinated cash pickups from aged victims throughout the U.S. on behalf of the scammers primarily based in Montreal.

All the whereas, the paperwork present, the lads posed as profitable businessmen.

Their circumstances echo that of Gareth West, Zanetti’s alleged associate, who prosecutors name the “kingpin” of the rip-off community. West offered himself as a rich actual property developer and health influencer whereas prosecutors say he was incomes tens of millions from scamming the aged.

In Zanetti’s case, he ran Luxury Water Sports, a well-liked jet ski rental firm positioned in Buenaventura, a resort city on Panama’s Pacific coast. 

On its Instagram web page, Zanetti posed atop jet skis and smiled alongside clients. The firm was fashionable. Clients rated it extremely and vacationers posted footage of themselves on the corporate’s rental yacht. 

Zanetti despatched footage of himself on the wheel of a Porsche to his underlings, males employed to gather cash from rip-off victims throughout the U.S. Pictures additionally present him sitting beachside, doubtless beneath the parasols and palm timber of the Buenaventura resort.

Undeterred regardless of bail bondsmen arrests

Meanwhile, his “crews” — teams of three males — have been visiting American cities, renting automobiles, lodge rooms and appearing as “bail bondsmen” to gather cash from victims who had been scammed into giving up 1000’s of {dollars}. 

Zanetti was the go-between between the scammers positioned within the name centres in Montreal and the “bail bondsmen” who collected the cash.

Victims of the rip-off have instructed CBC how the rip-off affected their psychological well being, making them really feel susceptible in outdated age along with, in some circumstances, robbing them of significant life financial savings or retirement funds.

Sometimes, the “bail bondsmen” would get arrested — it occurred 10 occasions whereas Zanetti was co-ordinating the cash pickups. But he remained undeterred. According to the U.S. prosecutors, he thought he was protected from regulation enforcement as a result of he was in Panama. 

Zanetti was convicted of being concerned within the rip-off exercise starting in September 2021, however the prosecutors say the proof suggests he was concerned in grandparent scams going again at the least to 2019 and, at one level, he himself was scamming seniors out of name centres in Montreal, appearing as a “closer.”

For years, the rip-off earned tens of millions, however a few of Zanetti’s “bail bondsmen” have been arrested, together with Roderick Feurtado, who additionally posed as a profitable businessman with a “multimillion-dollar income,” in response to prosecutors. 

“Feurtado has constructed a persona for himself — Mr. Worldwide, the globetrotting cryptocurrency tycoon and multimillion-dollar earner,” Bengel wrote in sentencing paperwork in Feurtado’s case. “In reality, he is a fraudster who travelled to Pittsburgh to steal money from the elderly.”

When police arrested Feurtado and two different males in Pittsburgh, they caught them with greater than $200,000 US in money taken from victims — cash believed to have been gathered over simply three days, which prosecutors mentioned confirmed the dimensions of the fraud. 

The arrests set off alarm bells among the many remainder of the scammers — the prosecutors say West was involved and visited Zanetti in Panama to debate the operation. A photograph from West’s Instagram account on the time exhibits him driving in a small airplane with Zanetti. 

Hefty sentences

The community continued to function. Two years later, Zanetti was arrested and extradited to the U.S. While in custody, earlier than he pleaded responsible, U.S. investigators say Zanetti instructed a cellmate that he was in contact with individuals again in Canada who have been “trying to buy his silence for $2 million.” 

In a sentencing submission of his personal after his responsible plea, Zanetti expressed regret for his actions and requested a 120-month sentence — a lot decrease than what U.S. sentencing pointers would have imposed on him. 

His son filed a letter with the courtroom asking for lenience for his father. In the letter, he says Zanetti cared for his growing older mother and father and taught him tips on how to be a person of integrity. 

By distinction, Bengel, the U.S. prosecutor, mentioned Zanetti had full information of the vulnerability of the victims focused by the rip-off.

“The victims in this case lost hard-earned money, which they planned to rely on in retirement or gift to their grandchildren, so that Zanetti could party, ride jet skis, live near the ocean, and drive a sports car,” Bengel wrote.

The decide, Nicholas Ranjan, agreed with Bengel and imposed a 188-month — or 15-and-a-half-year — sentence, the higher restrict of the sentencing pointers and according to what Bengel had requested. He additionally ordered greater than $700,000 US in restitution.

For his half, Feurtado, the person who posed as a bail bondsmen, additionally acquired a hefty sentence of 146 months in 2024 — greater than the prosecution had requested for — regardless of him telling his probation officer that he deliberate to “ask congress to establish a ‘Grandpa Protection Program,’ which would be a program/system to help prevent elderly people from being duped by [grandparent scams].”

He now writes spiritual books and sells them on Amazon — from jail.