SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – A Sarasota man has been sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, money laundering, and filing a false income tax return.
Michael J. DaCorta, 57, was also given an order of forfeiture in the amount of $2,817,876.16, a portion of the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct. A federal jury had found DaCorta guilty on May 4, 2020.
Testimony presented during the 13-day trial showed that from Nov. 2011 through April 18, 2019, DaCorta ran an investment company named Oasis International Group, Ltd.
DaCorta and his co-conspirators persuaded at least 700 victims to invest in OIG through promissory notes and other means, causing victims’ losses exceeding $80 million. DaCorta, who had effectively been banned from conducting foreign exchange trading by agreement with the National Futures Association, induced victims to invest in OASIS by falsely representing to victim-investors that OASIS was reaping enormous profits by being a “market maker” and collecting “spread” on voluminous FOREX trades.
DaCorta also pitched the opportunity as essentially risk free and OASIS as well-collateralized. In reality, OASIS was not making markets and had no true revenue. The “spread” earnings were being paid on each trade by OASIS back to OASIS in order to create the illusion of revenue, which was published to investors on fictious account statements and an online portal. The OIG investor portal showed the “spread”…