Politics & Government

Springfield IRS Office Assists in $10 Million Fraud Ring Investigation

Operators of fraudulent shell corporation also charged with tax evasion.

Investigators from Springfield's office of the Internal Revenue Service assisted in the conviction of three men who bilked investors out of $10 million in fraudulent investment schemes. 

Radcliffe Bent, Michael Berteletti and Alexander Klepach were convicted of multi-year prison sentences for their roles in operating Covenant Consulting Company, a shell corporation, and related illegal businesses. 

According to the Newark Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the men induced investors to purchase shares of stock and promissory notes in Covenant and two other shell companies owned and managed by Brent, Cambridge Berkshire Group ("Cambridge") and Crown Estates Development Corporation ("Crown Estates"). In addition, the FBI says they induced investors to purchase shares in SavvyData, which Bent and Berteletti represented to investors would be brought public.

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Federal investigators say Covenant, purportedly in the business of consulting and venture capitalism, was actually a shell corporation with no legitimate business operations. From 1997 to 2007, Bent, of Franklin Park, NJ, and his co-conspirators stole millions of dollars from dozens of victims by making false statements and failing to disclose material information.

According to a statement by United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman, Bent and Berteletti, of Brooklyn, were connected to the illegal drug trade through Klepach, a Brooklyn drug dealer. Bent and Bertelli laundered the large amount of cash generated by Klepach's business, making his profits appear to be proceeds from Convenant.

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During the trial, Bent admitted that in 2003, he received approximately $1 million in taxable income upon which he owed a tax of approximately $369,000 that he failed to report on his income taxes.

On May, 2009, Bent pleaded guilty to three counts of a superseding Indictment: conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and tax evasion. Berteletti and Klepach also pleaded guilty in federal court hearings in 2009, Fishman said.

The three men were sentenced in Federal Court on Wednesday, Aug. 18. Bent received a 110 month sentence. Both Berteletti and Klepach were sentenced for five years.

In addition to the prison terms, the Judge ordered all three defendants to serve three years of supervised release. The judge also ordered Bent and Berteletti to pay, respectively, approximately $7 million and $10 million in restitution.


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