Mount Sinai Man Sentenced In $4M Fraudulent Investment Scheme

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A Mount Sinai man was sentenced to at two and a half years prison for a fraudulent investment scheme, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini announced Friday. Joseph Prosa, 53, stole more than $3.6 million from an elderly, blind Poughkeepsie man, as well as more than $250,000 from someone in Suffolk County.

Prosa pleaded guilty on May 18, 2019, to first-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheme to defraud, both felonies. He was sentenced Wednesday to two and a half to seven and a half years in prison on the grand larceny charge and one to three years for the scheme to defraud. The sentences will run simultaneously.

"This was a grossly deceitful scheme in which the defendant stole millions of dollars from his victims, including a senior citizen who was robbed of his life savings," Sini said in a news release. "He operated this scheme out of pure greed and callousness. I commend the members of my Office who investigated and prosecuted this case for holding this defendant accountable for his actions."

Between August 2010 and November 2017, Prosa ran a scheme in which he lied to the victims that he was seeking investments to build a recycling facility in Poughkeepsie. Prosa told prospective investors he owned land for the facility, a permit had been approved, and he was an expert in the field of recycling and the construction of plants for a process called "gasification," which can convert garbage into electricity.

Prosa was convicted of stealing millions from a Poughkeepsie man in his 80s who was legally blind and has since died. He also stole $250,000 from a second person who lives in Suffolk County. Both victims were previous acquaintances of Prosa's, according to Sini.

Prosa was indicted in December 2018. An investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office revealed that Prosa used the stolen money on personal expenses. He spent more than $1.2 million in casinos and racehorse gambling entities and an additional amount used to purchase a racehorse. Prosa also used the stolen funds to repay large amounts of debt incurred by gambling and to pull his house out of foreclosure.