This entry was posted on 11/20/2008 7:41 AM and is filed under Guardala News.
Here it is - straight from Newsday - BY KATHLEEN KERR
It's time for David Guardala to start playing the blues - the saxophone innovator pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge that he used wire fraud to cheat fellow musicians out of their money.
Guardala, 49 - inventor of a state-of-the-art saxophone mouthpiece - pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Central Islip to one count of wire fraud. The plea deal requires Guardala to pay back $1.1 million to people he defrauded from New York to California.
Guardala plays the sax and grew up on Long Island. A number of well-known saxophonists, including Branford Marsalis, use the Guardala mouthpiece. He had a Bay Shore plant that manufactured the mouthpieces but ended his career in the mid-1990s and moved to Frankfurt, Germany.
A federal indictment had charged Guardala with scheming to convince acquaintances to give him money to invest in rare musical instruments, cameras and businesses that didn't exist.
The wire fraud count to which Guardala pleaded guilty involved a plan to get two acquaintances to send him a total of about $277,000 through Western Union and MoneyGram.
The money, sent from the U.S. to Germany, was meant as payments for expensive Linhof camera equipment Guardala said a German widow wanted to sell. The two men never received any camera equipment from Guardala.
"It's been a long time coming," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Lunger outside court. "This case is about a breach of trust."
Guardala's attorney, Martin G. Goldberg, said, "It's sad because he had a really good reputation in the world, the music world."
Another of Guardala's schemes involved investments in a company that he said would sell instruments made in Vietnam.
Guardala's victims included a childhood friend and a retired music teacher from the Islip school system.
Sentencing is expected in early 2009. He faces a maximum 20 years in prison. He also could receive a fine up to twice the $1.1 million in restitution he has already agreed to pay.
11/20/2008 9:52 AM
SAXTEK wrote:
Great news Greg! This week was not going well for me. What a difference a little piece of news can make. Time for DG to take it on the chin! I hope we all see our "investments" returned. Good luck to all involved.--Saxtek Reply to this
I was at the court proceedings yesterday along with "the two camera guys" and the "retired music teacher". I am the the "childhood friend"
It was very difficult to hear DG and the judge, but while mention was made of $1.1M restitution and additional fines/court costs, I dont believe I heard he would have to pay double that amount.
There were actually 12 or 14 seperate counts of fraud in the indictment, but the plea bargain reduced it to count #2, involving the camera scam. However, in his allocution, DG named us all individually, admitted to willfully defrauding us, and receiving wired monies by himself and by his confederates on his behalf.
11/30/2008 7:04 PM
Bill Evans wrote:
Hey gregg, Thanks for keeping everyone up on the Guardala news. As I mentioned before, that scumbag ripped me off for $1000 through western union saying " I was pick pocketed , can you help me ? " Keep up the good work. Best, Bill Dave has a very sick mind. NO DOUBT. Really pisses me off. Reply to this
