NEW YORK – A woman who got hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors by lying and telling them that it would be used for a project to help foster children was sentenced today to three years and five months in prison, officials announced.
Liliana Trafficante spent much of the money from the five-year scheme on personal expenses and other purposes, authorities said. She plead guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in September 2010, and agreed to pay restitution to the victims of her offense.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Deborah Batts sentenced Trafficante to three years of supervised release. Trafficante also was ordered to pay restitution of $750,000.
“Instead of developing water parks for foster children as she said she would, Liliana Trafficante used the money to support her own lifestyle,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. “In doing so, she exploited a worthy cause for personal gain, cheating foster kids out of an opportunity to truly benefit from the investors’ contributions.”
According to court documents, Trafficante said was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of International Dreams, a Manhattan-based entity. She also claimed to be affiliated with a number of entities. Trafficante claimed to be raising money for the purchase of land and completion of a water park for foster children (the “Water Park Project”).
She raised money through posting on the Craigslist website. She made false statements to donors so they could make loans to and/or investments in the Trafficante Entities, officials said.