U.S. Court Enters Final Judgement Against Former Adviser for Defrauding Elderly Clients of $1.2 Million

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a final judgment against former NJ broker, Joseph Orazio DeGregorio, enjoining him from violating certain provisions of the federal securities law and imposing other remedies.

As The DI Wire previously reported, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against DeGregorio that says from between October 2015 and March 2021, he solicited just under $1 million from one 80-year-old investor and approximately $205,000 from three additional elderly investors, ages 78 to 94, for various “fictitious” investments. DeGregorio allegedly told investors that their funds would be used to purchase promissory notes guaranteeing a 13% annual return and falsely claimed he would invest the funds in two private companies.

According to the complaint, the purported promissory notes never existed, and the funds raised in connection with the note were funneled to a companies owned by DeGregorio, that were created by for the sole purpose of facilitating his fraud and did not carry out any actual business activities. The complaint further alleged that DeGregorio did not use any of the investor money for legitimate investments, but instead misappropriated the vast majority of the funds for personal expenses and gambling.

The SEC’s complaint charged DeGregorio with violating antifraud provisions of the SEC. On May 5, 2023, the court entered a final judgment against DeGregorio by consent in which he agreed to be permanently enjoined from violations of the charged provisions. He agreed to disgorge $1,084,500 in ill-gotten gains and prejudgment interest and has been permanently barred from the securities industry.

DeGregorio was most recently affiliated with Garden State Securities, Inc.

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