Downtown Buffalo (WBEN Newsroom) -- A Williamsville man who targeted the elderly and fellow Catholics in a multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme could spend the rest of his natural life behind bars. 82 y/o Richard Piccoli faces up to 24 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion.
Piccoli admitted to bilking his clients out of millions of dollars, as much as $20-million, between 1990 and 2009. Dozens of his victims packed the courtroom for his plea. Piccoli guaranteed them a high rate of return on their investments. He used the money of new investors to pay previous investors.
Carl Bell traveled more than two hours from Franklin, Pennsylvania to see, in person, the man who bilked him out of $58,000. Why did investors trust Piccoli? "He was really a religious type and he wrote me letters 'God Bless' and he was really a kind, soft talker...it looked good and it was inviting" says Bell who is hopeful he'll get at least some of his money back. Bell's two brothers were also victimized by Piccoli.
Restitution is the goal according to Piccoli's attorney Joel Daniels but so too is as little prison time as possible. "Mr. Piccoli has plead guilty to charges that essentially make him face a life sentence...so we are going to do our best to bring everything before the judge and ask the judge to impose what he believes is a reasonable sentence" says Daniels.
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