A lawyer attempting to collect millions of dollars from Joseph LaForte, the former boss of one of the nation’s largest merchant cash advance companies, was ambushed and beaten on a Philadelphia street, apparently with a flashlight, the FBI said.
(Bloomberg) — A lawyer attempting to collect millions of dollars from Joseph LaForte, the former boss of one of the nation’s largest merchant cash advance companies, was ambushed and beaten on a Philadelphia street, apparently with a flashlight, the FBI said.
Gaetan Alfano was assaulted after remotely attending a Feb. 28 Florida court hearing, where he urged a judge to order LaForte and his wife out of their Haverford, Pennsylvania, home unless they paid their outstanding bills. The lawyer was treated in a hospital and received seven staples in the back of his head. LaForte’s brother James faces charges as a result.
LaForte and a group of others have been ordered to pay $219 million after settling a US Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit claiming his company, Par Funding, defrauded 1,200 investors, according to an FBI complaint filed Monday in federal court in Philadelphia.
At Par, LaForte was once a leading figure in the merchant cash advance industry, an unregulated form of small-business lending that’s often been accused of using predatory practices. LaForte, who had previously served prison time for running a real estate scam and an illegal gambling outfit, was a subject of a 2018 Bloomberg News story about abuses in the industry.
Alfano works for the court-appointed receiver in the Par case, and has identified $100 million in assets controlled by LaForte and his wife. In January, Alfano threatened to evict the couple from their home in Haverford for owing $61,000 in rent and maintenance fees on that house and two vacation homes, court records show.
Following the attack in Philadelphia, Alfano’s colleague recovered a broken flashlight at the scene and gave it to FBI agents. They arrested James LaForte, whose rap sheet includes convictions for defrauding homeowners in a real estate business, conspiring to commit arson to collect on a debt, and operating an illegal offshore gambling business.
He also “acted in a supervisory capacity” at Par, according to the arrest complaint, in which he was charged with obstruction of proceedings and retaliation against a party or witness causing bodily injury.
James LaForte appeared Monday in federal court in Philadelphia, where he was ordered detained until a bail hearing on March 9. His lawyer who appeared in court, Joseph Capone, declined to comment. His New York attorney, Thomas Mirigliano, didn’t immediately return a call. Alfano declined to comment.
The case is US v. LaForte, 23-mj-464, US District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).
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