Nelson S.T. Thayer Jr. Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania | Penn Carey Law School
United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Joseph Cole Barleta, aged 41, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to 66 months in prison. The sentencing was handed down by United States District Court Judge Mark A. Kearney. In addition to the prison term, Barleta received three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $302,700,484.60 in restitution and forfeit $8,063,303.83 for his involvement in a racketeering conspiracy linked to Complete Business Solutions Group Inc., operating as Par Funding.
Barleta was charged with a second superseding indictment in February 2024 and pleaded guilty to the RICO charge in October of the same year. According to court documents and admissions by Barleta, he conspired with Joseph LaForte, James LaForte, and others as part of a RICO enterprise engaged in various predicate crimes aimed at defrauding investors.
Barleta's role involved manipulating financial statements under Joseph LaForte's direction to present Par Funding as profitable when it was incurring losses annually. The court determined that the fraud scheme led to an actual loss of approximately $404 million but reduced this amount after accounting for collateral seized during the investigation initiated by federal authorities when the SEC placed Par Funding into receivership in July 2020.
Co-defendants Joe LaForte and James LaForte previously pleaded guilty last year to racketeering conspiracy and related offenses. Joe LaForte received a sentence of 15½ years while James LaForte got 11½ years.
"Barleta played a key role in the massive fraud scheme that was Par Funding," stated U.S. Attorney Metcalf. "He participated in an extensive and destructive conspiracy that inflicted substantial harm on the community."
Wayne A. Jacobs from the FBI’s Philadelphia Division commented on Barleta’s accountability: “This sentencing holds Joseph Barleta accountable for his criminal actions.”
Patricia Tarasca from FDIC OIG added: “Mr. Barleta was brought to justice today for his role in deceiving Par Funding’s numerous investors.”
The case saw investigations conducted by multiple agencies including FBI, FDIC OIG, IRS Criminal Investigation along with Pennsylvania State Police; prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew Newcomer, Samuel Dalke, and Eric Gill; while SEC Florida managed civil securities fraud charges integral to this prosecution.
