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Two more charged in $1-million scheme
By ROBERT FARLEY, Times Staff Writer
Disbarred Palm Harbor attorney Arthur Deckelman admitted he stole $175,000 from a group of Central Florida movie investors. But one of the many lingering questions in the bizarre story of Deckelman's downfall was what happened to the remaining $1-million Deckelman said he put into a high-yield overseas bank trading scheme on behalf of Checkers restaurant founder Herb Brown of Clearwater and an Australian foursome led by a wealthy yachtsman? Deckelman provided impatient investors with letters from a man named Joseph Italiano of General Surety Company Ltd. In those letters, Italiano assured that his company, based in Antigua, had their money and that its return was forthcoming. It never was. Some said they doubted Italiano existed. But on Thursday, a federal grand jury in Tampa returned a 41-count indictment charging Italiano, 50, of Parrish and Roger F. Burns Jr., 57, of Palm Beach Gardens with running a $12-million Ponzi-type scheme. "I'll be damned!" said Mal Freeman, one of the four movie company principals, and the man who recruited all of its investors, including two of his brothers. "I don't have a clue anymore (where the truth lies)," Freeman said. "I think Deckelman was full of half truths." From the start, Deckelman's story tested the limits of believability. Here was a respected attorney in the twilight of his career purporting to jet around Europe, meeting with shadowy financiers with exotic sounding names who would place the investments in a no-risk, high-yield banking program. When no returns came, Deckelman in April 1999 filed a lawsuit in Pinellas County against Italiano and General Surety seeking return of the $1.2-million. But in October 2000, Deckelman, once president of the Clearwater Rotary Club, was disbarred after admitting to the Florida Bar that he stole $175,000 from a company he helped to form to finance a motion picture. Criminal charges followed, and in August 2001, Deckelman pleaded guilty to grand theft. He was sentenced to 15 months of probation. Deckelman, who now lives with relatives in Maryland, repaid $50,000 and must pay $500 per month in restitution. Deckelman could not be reached for comment and Italiano's attorney, Jack Fernandez, declined to comment. The question remained, was Deckelman being conned at the same time he was conning the movie investors? Herb Brown thinks so, and he believes Italiano's indictment backs that up. Brown said he never believed Deckelman took his $200,000 investment. "I never did know where it ended up, to tell the truth," Brown said. He has all but written off his investment. "I don't guess we'll see the money," Brown said. The indictment alleges Italiano and Burns used a sham corporation, General Surety, to solicit $12-million from investors. The indictment alleges none of that money was ever invested, but was placed into bank accounts controlled by Italiano and Burns, and then spent by them. The indictment charges Italiano and Burns with wire fraud, money laundering and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions. Each wire fraud count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000; the money laundering counts, 20 years in prison and $500,000; and the unlawful monetary transactions, 10 years in prison and $250,000. A Ponzi scheme is a scam in which money from new investors is used to make payments to earlier investors until the whole deal collapses. The case is being investigated by the Sarasota offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. Italiano also faces charges for securities-related crimes and racketeering in Utah. The trial is set to begin in March. Italiano is being held in the Hillsborough County Jail without bail.
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