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Louisiana Businessman Sentenced to 15 Years on Wire Fraud Charge

Published January 4, 2022

Louisiana – United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that David D. DeBerardinis, 60, of Shreveport, Louisiana, was sentenced on January 4, 2022, by Chief United States District Judge S. Maurice Hicks, Jr. to 15 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for committing wire fraud and defrauding many people out of millions of dollars. A presentence investigation estimated the amount of loss to the victims in this case to be over $58,000,000. A hearing will be held on March 28, 2022, at 9:00 to determine the exact full amount of restitution to be paid by DeBerardinis.

On August 25, 2021, DeBerardinis, a Shreveport executive, pleaded guilty to the charge of wire fraud. DeBerardinis admitted that he ran and controlled multiple businesses and that he misrepresented himself and his companies as being involved in a complex petroleum trading operation. Individual investors and financial institutions were sought by DeBerardinis and others to give funds for his businesses in exchange for interest payments and a guaranteed return of principal.

DeBerardinis misled investors and financial institutions by claiming that he had a preferential trading relationship with Alon USA Energy, Inc. (Alon) that created considerable profits that would be utilized to compensate the investors and financial institutions, while in reality, DeBerardinis knew he didn’t. PlainsCapital Bank, a Dallas-based banking institution, allegedly loaned DeBerardinis $29,500,000 between April 2014 and June 2015 to help him build his fuel trading business. DeBerardinis knew he wasn’t making fuel trades and didn’t have a relationship with Alon at the time the financing was secured.

PlainsCapital provided funding through repeated interstate wire transfers from its Dallas branch to one of DeBerardinis’ Shreveport bank accounts. These wire transfers were either initiated or induced to be initiated by the defendant. One of the wire transfers, in the sum of $17,100,000, took place on or around November 25, 2014.

“As was evident in today’s sentencing hearing, this defendant spent many years conning not only business associates but also friends who trusted him, out of millions of dollars and destroying many of their lives while doing so,” stated United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown. “His cavalier attitude about the deception he used and the destruction that he caused is appalling. Seeking justice for victims such as these, in this case, is what continues to drive us to work harder to weed out those who deploy such unconscionable acts.”

DeBerardinis was ordered to report to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on February 16, 2022.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service, and Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica D. Cassidy and Cadesby B. Cooper prosecuted the case.