Serial Fraudster Sentenced To Over Three Years In Prison For Scamming Elderly Victims Out Of Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars In Fraudulent Payment Scheme

Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that MICHAEL PIZARRO, a/k/a “Eric Miller,” was sentenced today to 40 months in prison in connection with PIZARRO’s scheme to defraud individuals (the “Victims” ) by representing to them that they had qualified for a government grant, which could only be accessed upon the payment of an up-front refundable application fee.  In actuality, the government grant did not exist and none of the Victims had been approved for such a grant.  PIZARRO pled guilty to a one-count information on August 20, 2019, before United States Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorentstein.  Today, United States District Judge Paul A. Crotty accepted PIZARRO’s guilty plea and imposed the sentence.

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “Michael Pizarro promised government grants to his victims under the condition they pay an up-front application fee. Regretfully, Pizarro’s victims, many of whom were over 70 years old, eventually discovered that they had fallen prey to a serial fraudster – there were no government grants, and they would not be receiving any funds. Michael Pizarro has now been sentenced to time in federal prison for his brazen fraud.”

According to allegations in the criminal complaint, the information, and other documents filed in federal court, as well as statements made in public court proceedings:

Beginning in at least February 2017 through July 25, 2019, PIZARRO called the Victims, many of whom were more than 70 years old, and told them that his name was “Eric Miller” and that he was calling on behalf of a company named “National Grants.”  PIZARRO informed the Victims that they had been approved for a government grant, which was being held in escrow at an account with the “World Bank” in Washington, D.C.  Before the funds could be released, however, the Victims would have to pay a registration fee.  In fact, none of the Victims had been approved for a grant, the grants did not exist, and no Victim ever received any funds.

In April 2018, PIZARRO was charged in New York Supreme Court in connection with his involvement with National Grants from October 2015 through January 2017.  PIZARRO pled guilty to those charges in December 2018 and was awaiting sentencing when he was arrested in connection with this scheme on May 2, 2019.  After he was released on bail in connection with the federal charges, PIZARRO continued to seek contact information for additional Victims in furtherance of the scheme.  In total, not including the conduct charged in New York Supreme Court, PIZARRO defrauded the Victims out of approximately $270,000.

In addition to his prison sentence, PIZARRO, 38, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay forfeiture and restitution in the amount of $278,853.37.

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the New York City Police Department. 

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Kiersten A. Fletcher and Benet J. Kearney are in charge of the prosecution.