Financial Adviser to the Stars Pleads Guilty
N E W Y O R K, Aug. 3 -- A financial adviser to young celebrities pleadedguilty to fraud charges Wednesday, tearfully admitting that heripped off some of his clients after the business he built “becameso big, so overwhelming, that I lost control.”
“This is a terrible day in my life,” 37-year-old DanaGiacchetto said as he began sobbing while admitting his crime in aplea deal with U.S. prosecutors in federal court in Manhattan.
The deal called for Giacchetto to be sentenced Nov. 3 to aprison term ranging between three years and 10 months and fouryears and nine months for losing between $5 million and $10 millionof his clients’ money.
In the last decade, Giacchetto built his investment business,The Cassandra Group, into a large enough name that he found himselfa regular on the Hollywood party circuit.
The boyish looking Giacchetto mingled with young celebritiesincluding Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz and singer Alanis Morrisette.All became clients, as did Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Stiller andCourtney Cox Arquette.
Giacchetto made no mention of specific clients as he pleadedguilty to fraud under the federal Investment Advisers Act, but hedid say he would “pray and hope we will make reparations and noone will lose money.”
“I’d like to apologize to everyone that I’ve caused harm to,”he said.
‘I Did it Knowingly and Willfully’
Giacchetto told U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson that hestarted his business because he dreamed of creating an investmentbank to empower the artist community.
He said he was an artist as a child and thought artists wereroutinely exploited.
The judge asked him if he knew he was violating the law.
“Yes I did,” he said. “I did it knowingly and willfully. Ialways intended that everyone would be paid back and taken careof.”
The judge also asked if he made false statements and sent falseinformation to clients to cover up the crimes as they occurred from1997 through March 31.
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