Date: June 2, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
PHILADELPHIA — United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Joseph Cole Barleta, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today by United States District Court Judge Mark A. Kearney to 66 months’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release, $302,700,484.60 in restitution, and forfeiture of $8,063,303.83, for racketeering conspiracy (RICO), in connection with his role in the operation of a fraudulent investment vehicle known as Complete Business Solutions Group Inc. d/b/a Par Funding (“Par Funding”).
Barleta was charged by second superseding indictment in February of 2024 and pleaded guilty to the RICO charge in October.
As detailed in court filings and admitted to by the defendant, Barleta and co-defendants Joseph LaForte, James LaForte, and others, were part of an association-in-fact RICO enterprise that conspired to commit a number of predicate crimes, including crimes related to the fleecing of Par Funding’s many investors.
Barleta’s role in the conspiracy related to helping financially engineer the securities and wire fraud components of the enterprise at the direction of Joseph LaForte. In particular, Barleta manipulated financial statements, fudged numbers, and cooked the internal books of Par Funding in order to deceive investors into thinking that Par Funding was profitable and successful, when the business was actually losing significant amounts year after year.
In January 2025, the Court found the Par Funding fraud scheme caused an actual fraud loss of approximately $404,000,000, which it reduced to $288,395,088 after factoring in credit for collateral that federal authorities seized from Par Funding when the investigation became public in July 2020, upon the SEC placing Par Funding in receivership.
Joe LaForte and James LaForte pleaded guilty last year to racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, and related crimes. In March, Joe LaForte was sentenced to 15? years in prison and James LaForte to 11? years in prison.
“Barleta played a key role in the massive fraud scheme that was Par Funding,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “He participated in an extensive and destructive conspiracy that inflicted substantial harm on the community. My office will continue to prosecute perpetrators of these complex financial crimes and vindicate the victims who lose their hard-earned money to them.”
“This sentencing holds Joseph Barleta accountable for his criminal actions, including securities and wire fraud,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “The FBI, together with our partners, remains unwavering in our commitment to identify, investigate, and disrupt complex financial crimes, ensuring that those who perpetrate them are brought to justice.”
“Mr. Barleta was brought to justice today for his role in the operation of a fraudulent investment vehicle that deceived Par Funding’s numerous investors and caused them significant financial losses,” said Patricia Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General (FDIC OIG), New York Region. “The FDIC OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and hold accountable those who participate in fraudulent schemes such as these, that harm investors and threaten the safety and soundness of our Nation’s financial system.”
This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation, the FBI, FDIC OIG, and the Pennsylvania State Police and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew Newcomer, Samuel Dalke, and Eric Gill. The SEC in Florida investigated and litigated the civil securities fraud charges, which formed the basis of a portion of the criminal prosecution.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.