Man Accused of Conducting Fraud Scheme From Home in Southampton

A Southampton man who was arrested last Thursday after conducting a fraudulent scheme was indicted in federal court according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Gregory Sclafani, 62, was charged with conducting the scheme from his home in Southampton related to his ownership and operation of numerous automobile transportation brokerage companies.

To date, his scheme victimized at least 100 individuals and caused an aggregate loss amount of approximately $600,000 to the victims, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to the federal complaint, from January 2008 to the present, Sclafani solicited customers online to induce them to use his brokerage services to obtain long-distance car hauling services for the customers’ vehicles.

“Under the guise of acting as a cost-effective broker of automobile transportation services, the defendant allegedly broke the trust of his victims and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from them,” United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch. “We and our law enforcement partners will continue to hold accountable those who would seek to defraud hardworking Americans.”

The New York State General Attorney’s Office began investigation on Sclafani after receiving hundreds of complaints regarding his fraudulent business practice in 2009, according to the federal complaint.

This revealed that to pay Sclafani for the services to be performed, customers were required to provide Sclafani with information allowing him to withdraw funds directly from their checking accounts.

As part of the scheme, not only did Sclafani allegedly fail to deliver the services as contracted, but once in possession of the customers’ bank account information, he also generated fraudulent checks in order to make repeated, unauthorized withdrawals from those customers’ accounts, according to the federal complaint.

“When Mr. Sclafani allegedly violated his clients’ trust, he underestimated the resolve of law enforcement to protect hard working consumers from scammers whose only intention is to defraud for their personal gain,” said Postal Inspector in Charge Phillip R. Bartlett.

In November 2009, the New York State General Attorney’s Office filed a civil action against Sclafani and the four transportation brokerage companies he was operating: Eastern Connection, Inc., A-Blue Knight Auto Carrier, Inc., Autotrail Transporter Company, Inc., and V & C Warehouse & Distributing Inc., according to the federal complaint.

The Supreme Court then ordered a Consent Order and Judgement, barring Sclafani from engaging in the deceptive, fraudulent or illegal business acts in the lawsuit and was required to pay $60,000 in restitution and $65,000 in penalties. He was also permanently enjoined from participating in the auto transportation business and had to pay an additional $255,000, according to the federal complaint.

In February 2013, the Investigations Agencies began an investigation after receiving complaints in 2012 about Sclafani, who was then operating his scheme through A USA Logistics, Inc., a Connecticut company. He was registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as the owner/operator of the company, but his authority to operate the company was revoked in January 2012, and he was not allowed to act as a broker for the company, according to the federal complaint.

In January 2013, he created Sclafani created the company New Logisitcs, LLC in North Carolina to continue his scheme, officials said. He had checks sent to his home in Bayville and had clients sign contracts which listed the address of the company as 1621 East Broad Street, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, which is the address of a graveyard, authorities said. 

In July 2013, he moved to Southampton and has been operating his scheme from the residence ever since, according to the federal complaint.

Individuals who believe they may have been victims of the defendant’s alleged fraudulent scheme should call 888-DOT-SAFT or file a complaint online at http://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov.