2 Women Convicted in Shoreline Gifting Table Scheme to be Resentenced

Two Guilford women sentenced to prison for their roles in the Shoreline Gifting Table pyramid scheme lost their federal appeals of their convictions and now will be resentenced by a federal judge, the New Haven Register reports.

Jill Platt and Donna Bello, both of Guilford, had been sentenced previously to six years in prison for Bello, and four years for Platt.

Despite losing their appeal of their convictions, their attorney Norm Pattis told the Register that he is happy he can argue for a lesser sentence.

Both convictions were for conspiracy to defraud the IRS, filing a false tax return and wire fraud. Both women had claimed in the legal filing that their sentences were too lengthy and unfair.

A total of five women have been sentenced for their roles in the scheme, but only Bello and Platt received prison time. Eileen Brennan, 78, of Branford received probation for her involvement in the case. Read that story here.

According to court documents and statements made in court, a Gifting Table is configured as a four-level pyramid, with eight participants assigned to the bottom row, four participants assigned to the third row, two participants assigned to the second row, and one participant assigned to the top row.

The top row participant is referred to as the “Dessert,” the two participants on the second row as “Entrees,” the four participants on the third row as “Soup and Salads,” and the eight participants on the bottom row as “Appetizers.”

To join a Gifting Table, new participants were required to pay $5,000, typically cash, to the Dessert, that is, the participant occupying the top position on the pyramid. The $5,000 payment, which was fraudulently characterized as a gift, secured the new participant a position as an Appetizer on the bottom row, federal official said.

Participants progressed from the bottom row of the pyramid by recruiting additional people to join the Gifting Table.

When eight new participants joined a Gifting Table, each having made a $5,000 “gift” to the person occupying the Dessert position at the top of the pyramid, the Dessert left the Gifting Table and kept the $40,000 paid by the eight new participants.

That particular Gifting Table was then split, with the two participants occupying the Entree position on the second row moving to the top position (Dessert) of two new pyramids.

The other incumbent members of the Gifting Table moved up a row on one of the two newly-formed pyramids, and the search for 16 new participants began. The success of the Gifting Tables depended on new participants joining and making the $5,000 “gift.”

Read the full New Haven Register story here.

To read the federal court’s ruling concerning Bello and Platt, please click here.