Fraudster David Correia — who pleaded guilty to ripping off investors of a company called “Fraud Guarantee” that he ran with Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas — will spend a year in prison, a judge ruled Thursday.
Correia, who pleaded guilty in October, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison by Manhattan federal court Judge Paul Oetken.
Prior to his sentencing, Correia insisted that he’d “learned quite a bit” about who he is as a person after his arrest for bilking investors out of more than $2 million.
“I feel true remorse for my previous actions,” Correia told Oetken in the remote hearing.
“These actions do not reflect what I want to be in life, and I will never repeat them again,” he added.
Correia pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission after he and Parnas were indicted for the scheme.
The pair were first indicted in 2019 alongside co-defendants Igor Fruman and Andrey Kukushkin with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws.
In connection with that scheme, Correia admitted he made false statements to the FEC about the source of a $325,000 donation to a pro-Trump super PAC.
At sentencing, prosecutor Nicolas Roos admitted the Correia did not profit from the scheme as blatantly as Parnas allegedly did, but nonetheless argued he was a key player in the ruse.
Correia, “wasn’t some sidekick,” Roos said, adding that he was “equal player in the criminal scheme,” who acted as a “closer” on the deals.
Correia will have to turn himself over to the Bureau of Prisons on March 21. He requested to serve time in a federal prison in Georgia, so his family can more easily visit him.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Rosenberg
