SAN JOSE — A New York man charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with bilking millions from investors has been ordered by a federal judge to pay off a defaulted purchase agreement with a California wealth management company.
In her 19-page order issued Jan. 2, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy H. Koh, on the bench in California's Northern District, ordered Perry C. Santillo of Rochester, New York to pay a more than $415,000 to Marshall Wealth Management Group and David Marshall. The amount includes more than $395,000 in unpaid principal, $10,000 in accumulated and more than $10,645 in attorneys' fees and costs.
Marshall and his wealth management company must foreclose on the security interest, according to Judge Koh's order.
U.S. District Court Judge Lucy H. Koh
| cand.uscourts.gov
Santillo, despite being properly served, had not made an appearance or challenged an earlier entry of default in the matter, according to Koh's order.
"The likelihood of the case proceeding to a resolution on the merits is unlikely," the order said.
Marshall and his wealth management company filed a breach of contract suit in May against Perry C. Santillo Jr. alleging Santillo purchased customer accounts from Marshall in July 2016 but failed to pay all that was due to Marshall under the sale agreement. Marshall Wealth Management Group is based in Los Gatos.
In his customer account purchase from Marshall, Santillo agreed to pay a total purchase price of $675,000 with $202,500 down and the rest in 16 equal installments, with interest, according to the background portion of the order. Santillo paid more than $110,000 in installments before being declared in default this past April.
In June, the SEC filed suit in U.S. District Court for New York's Southern District against Santillo and others, alleging $102 million had been taken in from more than 600 investors in a Ponzi scheme since 2011.
The SEC also obtained an asset freeze against Santillo and other defendants in the SEC's action, including Christopher Parris of Rochester, New York; Paul LaRocco of Ocala, Florida; John Piccarreto of San Antonio; and Thomas Brenner, of Orville, Ohio. Companies named in the SEC's securities fraud were First Nationle Solution, Percipience Global Corp. and United RL Capital Services.
In October, the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Department of Business Oversight issued a desist and refrain order against Santillo and three companies.