A man who has been on the run from the FBI for years has pleaded guilty amid an international investigation into embezzling $10 million from a New Hampshire investment company, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Hampshire, Roberto Montano admitted to the victim during a Skype call from Miami in 2014 that he had “fabricated it,” but instead of returning to New England as promised, he said: If I have to go to jail, I’ll go to jail. ”
Instead, Montano flew to his native Guatemala and, despite again admitting to the scheme and extorting approximately $10 million in phone calls with the victim, the man also evaded a warrant from local authorities to travel to Nicaragua and return from Guatemala. Escaped. According to prosecutors.
There he lived as a life coach and yoga instructor under the pseudonym Alberto Yardi, prosecutors said.
The FBI’s nearly 10-year search for Montano ended on November 1 at Miami International Airport, prosecutors said. After being taken into custody, he is said to have written a five-page document pleading guilty.
“I’m guilty. I abused my trust.” [the victim] Prosecutors said the document read “placed inside me.”
Montano pleaded guilty to wire fraud Monday during a hearing in federal court in Concord, New Hampshire, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 30th. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of approximately $20 million, twice the amount Montano stole.
Prosecutors said the embezzlement involved two forestry projects in Guatemala that Montano managed for a New Hampshire investment advisor over a seven-year period beginning in 2007. Within two years, he began misappropriating the cash, using unauthorized mortgages on real estate to fund failed investments, and stealing Guatemalan forest subsidies. To get away with it, Montano altered his financial statements and at one point gave the victim a bank statement that said he had $1.1 million in hand, when in fact the balance was zero. handed it over to
According to prosecutors, Montano was arrested with the cooperation of Interpol, the Italian Embassy in Nicaragua and others.
