21 November – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – A telemarketer who collected approximately $5.7 million from hundreds of victims was sentenced today to more than five years in federal prison for operating a fraudulent telemarketing scheme involving oil and gas wells.
Alan Brian Baiocchi, 47, of Newport Beach, was sentenced to 63 months in prison today by United States District Judge David O. Carter in Santa Ana. In addition to the prison term, Judge Carter ordered Baiocchi to pay $3.8 million in restitution, of which $813,000 is due within one month.
Baiocchi was found guilty in September following a two-week trial. The federal jury convicted Baiocchi of two counts of wire fraud.
During the mid-1990s, Baiocchi was the president and operator of Intro Technology Services (ITS), a telemarketing boiler room in Newport Beach. Beginning in 1995, Baiocchi and his telemarketers in Newport Beach and Montreal, Canada, cold-called people around the country soliciting investments in oil and gas wells in Oklahoma.
Baiocchi and his telemarketers made numerous misrepresentations regarding the oil and gas wells. For example, many victims were told that the investment was safe because gas wells were already acquired and producing when, in reality, no gas wells had been acquired. Most significantly, Baiocchi concealed from all investors that 60 percent of the money they initially sent in was not going to the drilling of oil wells, but rather was kept by Baiocchi and his telemarketers.
During the course of the fraudulent scheme, from 1995 to 1997, Baiocchi caused more than 200 victims to invest more than $5.7 million. More than $2.9 million of the investments never went to the drilling of the wells, but rather went to bank accounts controlled by Baiocchi.
This case was investigated by agents of the California Department of Justice, the United States Postal Inspectors Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT: Assistant United States Attorney Robb Adkins
(714) 338-3593
Release No. 05-158
