Three 'stooges' plead guilty in $20m scheme to gain loans

Three local men have pleaded guilty in connection with their roles as ``straw borrowers" in a $20 million fraudulent loan scheme to buy construction equipment, the US attorney's office for the District of Massachusetts said yesterday.

A lawyer for one of the men described them as ``three stooges" who had been duped by the scheme's ringleader.

Matt Havey , 35, of Malden ; Louis Paradiso , 33, of Everett ; and Sean Sacco , 32, of Boston pleaded guilty before Chief US District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf to charges of conspiracy and mail fraud, according to US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan's office.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 20 , and each of the defendants will face as many as five years in prison, Sullivan's office said.

A statement released by Sullivan and the New England office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation offered details of a scheme that unfolded from 1998 to 2000.

According to this account, Peter Maggio , who operated construction firms in Medford, solicited and paid the men to sign for millions of dollars in loans while knowing they neither had the ability to repay them, nor the intention of doing so.

According to an indictment in the case, $20 million in loans were used for financing ``real and purported purchases and leases of approximately 184 trucks" and other equipment; sometimes Maggio obtained fraudulent titles to tractor-trailer trucks to sell them without the lenders' knowledge.

Maggio pleaded guilty to his role in the plan in April. He awaits sentencing, Sullivan's office said. Roger Witkin , Havey's lawyer, said his client and Paradiso and Sacco had been ``seduced" by Maggio.

Witkin said that Havey, who is a Jiffy Lube worker and a father of ``three beautiful girls," was having difficulties in keeping up with his mortgage, and that Maggio had offered him a way to make some easy money.

Witkin estimated that Havey had made about $15,000 from the scheme, while Maggio got ``millions."

Referring to Havey, Paradiso, and Sacco, Witkin said: ``The three stooges are the three guys in the press release. It's a tragedy. They're the victims in this case."

Maggio's lawyer, James Michael Merberg , declined to comment on the matter.

Sacco's lawyer, William M. White Jr. , said of his client, ``He got duped and suckered like the other straws."

Paradiso's attorney, Scott P. Lopez , said of his client: ``He's very remorseful. He regrets the day he ever met Peter Maggio."

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.