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Press Release

Hanover Man Sentenced To 18 Months In Federal Prison For Fraud Scheme Involving EBay Sales

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois

ROCKFORD — A Hanover, Ill. man was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard in federal court in Rockford for wire fraud. ANTHONY F. DEFILIPPO, 56, of Hanover, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, 9 months of which DeFilippo must spend in home confinement, in addition to restitution in the amount of $53,664.61. DeFilippo pled guilty to wire fraud on Nov. 21, 2012, admitting that from 2009 to 2011 he devised and engaged in a scheme to defraud and obtain money, funds, and property from Wal-Mart.com, Inc., credit card issuers, and credit card holders by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.

According to the written plea agreement, DeFilippo admitted that he used his eBay account to sell various types of merchandise, such as vacuum cleaners and sewing machines, that another participant in the scheme then fraudulently obtained from Wal-Mart.com, Inc. through the unauthorized use of names and credit cards numbers of other credit cardholders. The merchandise was then shipped to the address of the person that had purchased the item through DeFilippo’s eBay account, but containing the name of the victim credit cardholder. DeFilippo further admitted that he arranged for the money eBay received from the eBay buyers to be paid to DeFilippo through PayPal debit cards. DeFilippo periodically withdrew money from the debit cards, keeping a portion for himself and sending the rest to other persons, including persons in foreign countries such as the Ukraine.

The sentencing was announced by Gary S. Shapiro, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Frank Benedetto, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the U.S. Secret Service; Cory B. Nelson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Hiram Grau, Director of the Illinois State Police.

The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Love.

Updated July 23, 2015