For a combination of health matters and restitution questions, the sentencing of Princeville resident David T. Marantette, III, 62, has been continued until early October. Marantette pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of mail fraud earlier this year,
For a combination of health matters and restitution questions, the sentencing of Princeville resident David T. Marantette, III, 62, has been continued until early October.
Marantette pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of mail fraud earlier this year, in a case where federal prosecutors alleged he defrauded investors of $350,000, and made material misrepresentations.
Marantette had been scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Helen Gillmor in late June or early July.
But Marantette’s doctor found polyps during an examination, and has not yet been able to determine if the polyps are cancerous or not, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie E. Osborne, Jr.
The court gave Marantette additional time not only to follow up on the medical concerns, but to allow him more time to look into a plan to pay back even more restitution than he has already paid, said Brook Hart, Marantette’s attorney in this criminal case.
A court earlier ordered Marantette to pay $1.8 million in restitution in a civil case, Osborne said. Hart did not represent Marantette in the civil matter.
Marantette has agreed to stop acting as a broker, Osborne added. “His trading days are over.”
The U.S. attorney’s case, compiled by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, alleges that, from late 1995 through mid-1999, Marantette operated an investment company, Troubadour, Inc., and “developed a scheme to defraud his investors by various false representations, including soliciting investments without registering with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or the Securities and Exchange Commission, as required by law.”
Further, prosecutors state, Marantette sent literature to various investors claiming he had a track record of profitable trading when he did not, “promised investors that he would only use a certain percentage of their investment for administrative expenses when, in actual practice, he exceeded these limitations.”
He also told investors that there had never been material administrative, civil or criminal actions against his company, Troubadour, Inc., when in 1992 he had signed a consent and stipulation for a final judgment and order of permanent injunction against the operation of Troubadour, Inc. that had been required by the SEC, prosecutors claim.
“Through his fraudulent scheme, the defendant managed to bring $350,000 into Troubadour, Inc. from investors who had been duped,” prosecutors stated.
Marantette faces up to five years imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000, a term of supervised release of not less than two years or more than three years, and an order to provide restitution not to exceed $350,000, when he is sentenced.
His company’s Web site, www.goldstock.com, is still offering information on gold and silver market cyclical patterns, which the Web site indicates is only general financial advice offered by an entity not registered or certified to trade in securities of any kind.
Marantette moved to Princeville in 1991, when he founded Troubadour, Inc., and continues publishing weekly newsletters, the Goldstock Letter and the Dear Dow Letter.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
