Phillip Casciola has been sentenced to 22 years in prison in part for failing to deliver merchandise sold through his web site Jetbroker.org, a company that specialized in selling corporate jets and aircraft parts. Authorities spent two years investigating 51-year-old Casciola and concluded that he had, within the past few years, defrauded customers out of more than half a million dollars. Prosecuters believed that figure to exceed $1 million. Casciola has been ordered to repay his victims $400,000 and was ordered last Wednesday to arrive in court with $175,000 cash in hand. When he arrived in court without the cash, but still in ownership of a home worth roughly $800,000, a Circuit Judge passed down her ruling. Casciola’s lawyer said his client had received notice of a $400,000 lien placed on his client’s home by the IRS. But Casciola’s inability to pay likely swayed the judge away from any leniency. “Had he shown up with $175,000, he would have had 30 more days to pay the remaining $225,000 and his sentence may have been limited to two years of house arrest and probation,” reported the Bradenton Herald.
