Previously Convicted Fraudster Is indicted On Federal Charges

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Joseph A. DiBruno, Jr., 52, of Gastonia, N.C., was indicted by a federal grand jury on bank fraud charges, announced William T. Stetzer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. The indictment was unsealed this morning following DiBruno’s arrest and initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge David C. Keesler.

Robert R. Wells, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Tommy D. Coke, Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which oversees Charlotte, join Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer in making today’s announcement.

According to the indictment, in 2008, DiBruno was sentenced to 262 months in prison after pleading guilty in the Western District of North Carolina to conspiracy to defraud the United States, money laundering conspiracy, and concealment of assets. On April 8, 2020, DiBruno was approved by the federal Bureau of Prisons for placement on home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The indictment alleges that after his release to home confinement in May 2020, DiBruno obtained or attempted to obtain loans from at least two financial institutions, based on fraudulent statements and false information he submitted on loan applications. For example, on one loan application DiBruno falsely claimed that he had been employed as Director of Data Analytics by a company listed as M.R.S., that he earned an average monthly salary of up to $8,000, and that had he had lived at the residential address listed on the application for over four years, all of which information was untrue. The indictment also alleges that between May 2020 and June 2021, DiBruno submitted at least five fraudulent loan applications to two financial institutions seeking funds totaling over $120,000.

DiBruno is charged with five counts of making false statements to a credit union. Each count carries a penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1million fine.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations.  The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The FBI and USPIS led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte is prosecuting the case.