Tampa, FL – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – United States Attorney P…

Tampa, FL – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – United States Attorney Paul I. Perez announced that attorney Gregory G. Schultz of Clearwater, Florida was sentenced late yesterday afternoon, February 28, 2006, in federal court in Tampa for his leadership role in two conspiracies involving
securities and mail fraud, the sale of unregistered securities, and money laundering.

SCHULTZ was sentenced to a prison term of twenty one years and ten months, to be
followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of
$16,797,590 to victims of the fraud. During the sentencing hearing, the court also adopted an order of forfeiture of $18,624,173 entered previously by the Court against the defendant.

On December 10, 2002, a federal grand jury sitting in Tampa, Florida returned a
Superseding Indictment in the case against SCHULTZ, along with Joseph Cuciniello of
Oldsmar, Florida, Dean A. Sinibaldi of Ft. Myers, Florida, Gene A. Tyrrell of Glendale,
Arizona, Danny L. Wey of Dunedin, Florida, Robert M. Phillips of Palmetto, Florida, and
Anthony Cuciniello, Jr. of Odessa, Florida, alleging multiple law violations, including
charges that the defendants participated in conspiracies involving the sale of securities, unregistered securities and mail fraud, and money laundering. According to the Superseding Indictment, the defendants participated in an $18.4 million Ponzi scheme from late 1996 through August 2000, utilizing a succession of unregistered securities offerings to defraud hundreds of investors out of significant savings. The entities through which the defendants conducted their scam included Millennium Investment Inc. Trust and Millennium Investment Inc., the Stonehedge Group, Inc. entities, First Dominion Venture Capital, Inc., First Dominion Venture Capital, Global Research International, Inc., Impact Marketing, Inc., West Coast Distributors, Inc., Innovative Financial Concepts, LLC, Investor Business Journal, Inc., Delta Financial Services, Inc., Envision International, Inc., and The I.R. Firm, Inc.

On April 21, 2005, following approximately eleven weeks of trial, a jury in U.S.
District Court in Tampa, Florida, found three of SCHULTZ’s co-defendants, Joseph
Cuciniello, Sinibaldi, and Tyrrell, guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit securities
fraud and mail fraud and to sell unregistered securities, and one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, as well as other related substantive charges.

SCHULTZ was severed from the initial trial due to health-related issues and was
tried separately. His retrial began on October 11, 2005. On December 15, 2005, a jury
found SCHULTZ guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and mail fraud and to sell unregistered securities, one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, four counts of securities fraud, three counts of sale of unregistered securities, twelve
counts of mail fraud, and fifteen counts of money laundering. SCHULTZ was acquitted of one count of mail fraud.

Prior to the initial trial, Wey, Phillips, and Anthony Cuciniello, Jr., entered into Plea
Agreements with the government and cooperated in the government’s prosecutive efforts.

The three men are currently scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tampa,
Florida on March 31, 2006.

Tyrrell was sentenced on July 25, 2005, to a prison term of eleven years and four
months, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $10,217,307.95 to victims of the fraud. During the sentencing hearing, the Court also adopted an order of forfeiture of $2 million entered previously by the Court against Tyrrell.

On August 12, 2005, Sinibaldi was sentenced to a prison term of fourteen years, to
be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of
$5,333,374 to victims of the fraud. During the sentencing hearing, the Court also adopted an order of forfeiture of $2 million entered previously by the Court against Sinibaldi.

On September 16, 2005, Joseph Cuciniello was sentenced to a prison term of
seventeen and one-half years, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $15,290,601.38 to victims of the fraud. During the sentencing hearing, the Court also adopted an order of forfeiture of $6.25 million entered previously by the Court against Joseph Cuciniello.

Yesterday’s sentencing of SCHULTZ is the latest development in a lengthy multiagency
investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Securities Fraud Task
Force, a federal and state task force comprised of Special Agents with the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other agencies, as well as Financial Investigators and Analysts with the State of Florida Department of Financial Services.

The task force, based in the Middle District of Florida, has been investigating
and prosecuting large-scale securities fraud for approximately eleven years. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jay G. Trezevant and Rachelle DesVaux Bedke.

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