Cranston estate planner Caramadre to appeal conviction
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December 27, 2013 3:51 pm
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Cranston estate planner Joseph A. Caramadre filed notice Friday that he will appeal his conviction for being the architect of an investment scheme that exploited terminally ill people.
Caramadre filed notice of appeal just over a week after U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith sentenced him to serve six years in prison. The notice specifies his intent to challenge his conviction, sentence and court orders related to the case to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Smith, on Dec. 16, sentenced Caramadre, 53, and his employee, Raymour Radhakrishnan, for their roles in an investment scheme prosecutors say caused insurance companies and brokerage houses $46 million in losses. Radhakrishnan, 29, is to start his one-year prison term next month.
Both men pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy in November 2012. Their pleas came four days into trial. Witnesses at trial, some testifying by video from hospital beds, told of receiving a few thousand dollars from Caramadre's firm after signing papers that they didn't understand.
Prosecutors portrayed Radhakrishnan as the person who misled the ill people, some on their death beds, into unwittingly signing documents. Those documents were then used to purchase investments on behalf of clients of Caramadre's Estate Planning Resources firm. Caramadre's investors profited upon the individual's death.
Caramadre has been held since Smith rejected his bid to withdraw his guilty plea in May. Smith dismissed the move as an "incredibly cynical, disturbing attempt to manipulate the court".
Smith has not yet determined what restitution Caramadre and Radhakrishnan will pay the insurance companies and brokerage houses. Prosecutors say they defrauded the companies by providing false information about the investors' relationship to the dying people.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan is recommending that Caramadre is responsible for $46 million in losses. She placed the losses incurred after Radhakrishnan joined Estate Planning Resources in 2007 at $33 million.
Caramadre filed notice of appeal just over a week after U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith sentenced him to serve six years in prison. The notice specifies his intent to challenge his conviction, sentence and court orders related to the case to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Smith, on Dec. 16, sentenced Caramadre, 53, and his employee, Raymour Radhakrishnan, for their roles in an investment scheme prosecutors say caused insurance companies and brokerage houses $46 million in losses. Radhakrishnan, 29, is to start his one-year prison term next month.
Both men pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy in November 2012. Their pleas came four days into trial. Witnesses at trial, some testifying by video from hospital beds, told of receiving a few thousand dollars from Caramadre's firm after signing papers that they didn't understand.
Prosecutors portrayed Radhakrishnan as the person who misled the ill people, some on their death beds, into unwittingly signing documents. Those documents were then used to purchase investments on behalf of clients of Caramadre's Estate Planning Resources firm. Caramadre's investors profited upon the individual's death.
Caramadre has been held since Smith rejected his bid to withdraw his guilty plea in May. Smith dismissed the move as an "incredibly cynical, disturbing attempt to manipulate the court".
Smith has not yet determined what restitution Caramadre and Radhakrishnan will pay the insurance companies and brokerage houses. Prosecutors say they defrauded the companies by providing false information about the investors' relationship to the dying people.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan is recommending that Caramadre is responsible for $46 million in losses. She placed the losses incurred after Radhakrishnan joined Estate Planning Resources in 2007 at $33 million.
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