United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

STAMFORD MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MISLEADING FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT

Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANTHONY FILIPPONE, age 41, of 956 Hope Street, Stamford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty today before United States Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez to misleading federal law enforcement officers concerning his awareness of a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain and use credit card account numbers using the internet between January 2002 and December 2002.

According to statements made by the Government this afternoon in Hartford federal court, FILIPPONE attempted to mislead a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning his awareness of the involvement of Randall Forcellina, Jennifer Forcellina, Philip Lagana, and others in a scheme to commit credit card fraud. Randall Forcellina, the husband of Jennifer Forcellina, accessed internet chat rooms using a computer and used a device to capture the screen-names of the individuals participating in the chat room. He subsequently sent electronic mail messages to the participants falsely representing that the email message was from an internet service provider and falsely informing the recipient of the email message that the recipient's billing information was incorrect and requesting current personal identification information and financial information, including a current credit card account number. Randall Forcellina then created an email account to receive responses to the email message that he previously forwarded. He accessed the email account and retrieved the information provided.

In some cases, Randall Forcellina subsequently obtained additional publicly available information about an individual using the internet. Randall Forcellina telephoned Western Union and, using the credit card account number and other personal information obtained as a result of the scheme, requested that Western Union transfer money to various locations in Connecticut and New York. Randall Forcellina and Jennifer Forcellina then requested other individuals to pick up the money from the Western Union locations in exchange for a portion of the proceeds obtained. The defendants referred to this scheme as "doing a wu." The Government informed the court that it believed approximately $48,000 was obtained as a result of the scheme, while another $58,000 in fraudulent Western Union transfers was unsuccessfully attempted.

When FILIPPONE is sentenced on August 13, 2004, he faces up to three years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

On August 13, 2003, Phillip Lagana, age 26, of 296 Main Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit credit card fraud. On February 17, 2004, Randall Forcellina also pleaded guilty. They are detained and awaiting sentencing.

Jennifer Forcellina, age 21, of 28 Summit Place, Stamford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty on September 11, 2003 and was sentenced on April 30, 2004 by Chief U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny to three years of probation and six months of home confinement with electric monitoring. Chief Judge Chatigny also ordered Forcellina to pay $48,570 in restitution.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Norwalk Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys James Filan and James J. Finnerty.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov