BOSTON, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A Boston man was sentenced to 10 to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to a Ponzi scheme that cost his friends and relatives millions of dollars.
Steven Palladino's wife, Lori, and son, Gregory, also entered guilty pleas Tuesday, the Boston Globe reported. Lori Palladino was given a suspended two-year sentence and the son two years.
Prosecutors said the family, who lives in West Roxbury, an outlying Boston neighborhood, used a company called Viking Financial Group to fleece at least 42 people of a total of $10 million. A veterans organization was also victimized, investigators said.
"This massive loss is bad enough, but it's made even worse by what the investments were spent on: gambling debts, luxury vacations, top-of-the line cars, five-star restaurants, and Steven Palladino's mistresses," Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement. "There was no legitimate business: it was an out-and-out scam perpetrated by Steven Palladino and abetted by his wife and son."
