TRENTON, N.J. -- Nicholas J. Basile Jr., an executive in the now-defunct Tri-State Armored Services, has pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges, bringing to seven the number of people who have acknowledged involvement in a scam that embezzled millions from financial institutions across the country.
Basile, 33, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Trenton to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, which under federal sentencing guidelines carries a 1 1/2-year prison sentence, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report.
From September 2000 to September 2001, Basile was acting president of Tri-State, an Atlantic County, N.J., armored car company that filled ATMs for dozens of banks and other clients.
Federal prosecutors allege that instead of using filling machines with the money, Tri-State managers diverted it for their own use.
Basile, the government said, took $203,435 from an escrow account held by First Union Bank, now owned by Wachovia Corp., and used it to cover Tri-State's operating expenses.
He is set to be sentenced April 15 with three other former Tri-State officials, all from South Jersey: William A. Mottin, 45, who was president before Basile; Daniel Feuker, 44, who was vice president; and Tri-State's general manager, Joseph J. Fernandez, 40.
Also awaiting sentencing are a Philadelphia man and a Camden County woman who have admitted laundering money for Barry J. Chesla, who founded Executive Cash Services, a predecessor company to Tri-State.
Chesla, 44, of Westmoreland County, Pa., received a five-year prison sentence for bank fraud from a federal judge in Pittsburgh.
Even with the multiple guilty pleas, however, the case is far from settled; large amounts of cash remain missing.
When the FBI raided Tri-State's office in Hammonton, N.J., last year, it recovered roughly $10 million that belongs to the company's customers. In the plea agreements and property seizures since, federal agents located another $10 million.
But banks and other creditors claim to be missing nearly $50 million.
"That's a $30 million swing," said Thomas J. Subranni, the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee for Tri-State, which filed under Chapter 7 on March 2, the same day Mottin and others were arrested.
Subranni said the court had retained a private investigative firm to help to locate the money.
