02-18-04 -- Antolini, Daniel A. -- Forfeiture Consent -- News Release

Armored Car/ATM Servicing Company Owner Consents to $3 Million Forfeiture the Day After Fraud Convictions

TRENTON - The owner of an armored car and ATM servicing company consented today to forfeit $3 million to the government, the day after he was convicted on charges of wire and bank fraud, cash structuring and tax evasion, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

The same jury that convicted Daniel A. Antolini, III yesterday was scheduled this morning to hear forfeiture counts in a separate proceeding before U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown Jr. Rather than proceed before the jury, Antolini consented to the government's demand in his Indictment that he return $3 million stolen from victim banks.

Antolini, 47, the former owner and operator of Executive Cash Services (ECS), an armored car company located in Mays Landing and Hammonton, N.J., was convicted Tuesday of five counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, one count of structuring cash in amounts of less than $10,000 and two counts of tax evasion. The convictions were in connection with his scheme to divert funds from customer banks, including CoreStates Bank (now Wachovia Bank) for his own use.

Antolini's wife, Peggy Lee Antolini, 44, was acquitted of three tax evasion counts. The jury also deadlocked on a tax evasion count charging Daniel Antolini and Peggy Antolini for calendar year 1996.

The case against Daniel and Peggy Antolini, who currently live in Boca Raton, Fla. and were formerly of Egg Harbor Township, was tried by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Norv McAndrew and Marc-Philip Ferzan.

The Antolinis are scheduled to be sentenced on May 3. Judge Brown modified Daniel Antolini's $1.6 million bail to include the special condition of house arrest with electronic monitoring.

In lieu of a forfeiture hearing this morning, Daniel Antolini consented to forfeit $3 million and liquidate $800,000 of assets held in a Merrill Lynch brokerage account in the name of his wife by close of business Monday. Furthermore, Daniel Antolini has agreed to provide the government with a full accounting of all additional assets that can be liquidated, including an estimated $2 million estate located on five acres in Boca Raton.

The seven-week trial produced more than 40 witnesses and thousands of pages of documents admitted into evidence. According to the evidence presented at trial, between at least approximately January 1995 and December 1999, Daniel Antolini owned and operated ECS, an armored car company, that got into the business of delivering cash to Automated Teller Machines maintained by banks, savings and loans and credit unions in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and elsewhere. ECS also had other business operations, including a check cashing business.

In 1997 ECS entered into a contract with CoreStates Bank to replenish approximately 300 ATMs in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Between February 1997 and May 1997, CoreStates entrusted ECS with approximately $100 million cash to replenish CoreStates ATMs. However, according to the testimony of Joseph Gable, a former CoreStates senior vice president, within two months the relationship between ECS and CoreStates became strained and the contractual relationship was terminated. In winding down the arrangement, it was determined that several million dollars of CoreStates funds were missing and unaccounted for.

The government called approximately 36 witnesses at trial, including former employees of CoreStates Bank, who testified that at no time was CoreStates expressly advised that during 1995 and 1996, Daniel Antolini had written checks and executed wire transfer totaling more than $1 million directly out of the Transit Account for business purposes other than replenishing Customer Banks' ATMs, including for the purchase of an airplane, the acquisition of a gas station, and for investments into a Dean Witter Corporate brokerage account (now d/b/a Morgan Stanley).

In addition to the fraud charges, the Superseding Indictment charged in Count 9 that from on or about January 3, 1998 through on or about February 28, 1998, Daniel Antolini engaged in structuring transactions to evade bank reporting requirements. Specifically, the Indictment described 34 deposits of less than $10,000 made by Antolini during the course of the two months. The total amount deposited was approximately $287,800. Evidence also showed that Daniel Antolini instructed his wife to make two additional cash deposits in amounts of $9,000 into an account in her name.

Finally, Counts 10 through 13 of the Superseding Indictment consisted of charges that Antolini and his wife engaged in tax evasion for calendar years 1996 through 1999. Specifically, the evidence at trial demonstrated that in 1999, Daniel Antolini failed to report approximately $686,154 on his tax return for calendar year 1998. Approximately $569,800 went into bank and brokerage accounts in 1998; $80,500 of ECS money was used to pay for a 33 foot boat, and $12,360 in jewelry was paid for by ECS, while Daniel Antolini only reported a taxable in come of $49,172. Therefore, Daniel Antolini evaded $269,474 in personal income tax for calendar year 1998.

In addition, in 2000, Daniel Antolini failed to report approximately $278,428 on his tax return for calendar year 1999. Approximately $247,217 went into personal brokerage accounts in 1999; $14,290 of ECS money was used to pay the college tuition of his child at Villanova University; $7,000 of ECS money was used to pay for jewelry for Daniel and Peggy Antolini, and $28,372 was charged on corporate credit cards. Therefore, Daniel Antolini evaded $98,646 in personal income tax for calendar year 1999.

Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Daniel Antolini faces a possible prison term in the range of at least 78 months to 97 months. Judge Brown will determine the actual sentence based upon a formula that takes into account the severity and characteristics of the offense and the defendant's criminal history, if any.

Parole has been abolished in the federal sentencing system. Defendants who are sentenced to custodial terms must complete nearly all of the sentence before being released.

Christie credited Special Agents of the IRS Criminal Investigations section, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patricia J. Haynes, and the FBI Newark Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Louie F. Allen.

Defense Attorneys: Jerome A. Ballarotto, Esq. Trenton, New Jersey

William J. Hughes, Jr., Esq. Atlantic City, New Jersey