Joseph Fargnoli, a former executive of the now-defunct Theia Group, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to his role in a scheme that defrauded investors and lenders out of approximately $250 million. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Fargnoli, 61, from Rochester, New York, served as Chief Technology Officer for Theia Group, an aerospace start-up based in Washington, D.C. He entered his plea before Judge Royce C. Lamberth to one count of wire fraud. Fargnoli is the first among five former principals of Theia Group to plead guilty in this case.
The other four defendants—Erlend Olson, John Gallagher, Stephen Buscher, and Jamil Swati—face similar charges. Olson also faces allegations of evading more than $3.9 million in personal federal income taxes.
According to court documents, Theia Group planned to launch 112 satellites starting in 2022 at an estimated cost between $10 billion and $15 billion. Initially, the company aimed to secure funding from various nation-states by offering perpetual data and analytics services for an upfront payment of $2 billion. However, from its founding in 2015 until it went into receivership in 2021, Theia did not obtain any such funding from nation-states.
Instead, the company raised about $250 million through loans and investments obtained by fraudulent means. Prosecutors allege that the scheme involved making false statements about revenue from non-existent government contracts and providing multiple falsified financial statements—including a fake escrow account statement claiming $6 billion—as well as misrepresenting the company's technical capabilities.
The investigation is being conducted by the Justice Department’s Tax Division, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC OIG), and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Washington D.C. Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca G. Ross and Jolie F. Zimmerman are prosecuting the case along with Trial Attorney Alexis Hughes of the Tax Division.
"Joseph Fargnoli...pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in connection with his role in a multi-year scheme to defraud investors and lenders out of approximately $250 million," announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
