An Allentown title insurance company owner pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of wire fraud stemming from his “scheme” to defraud a title insurance underwriter and clients and a fraudulent application to the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Louis Belletieri, 43, was charged in May with the wire fraud counts. He previously was charged with a number of felonies connected to the case in Lehigh County Court in 2023.and 2024.
Belletieri was the proprietor of the now-defunct Legacy Title in Allentown, which provided title and real estate closing services. He used money that was placed into escrow as part of real estate transactions for personal reasons, including, among other things, to place online sports bets, according to the news release.
From about March 2020 through about September 2023, Belletieri transferred about $6.4 million from the escrow account to his personal account, and about $2.5 million from the escrow account to his business operating account; many of the transfers were not for legitimate business purposes, the news release said.
Belletieri took numerous steps to conceal his fraud, including submitting a fraudulent application to the SBA on behalf of Legacy Title to get money via the Economic Injury Disaster Loans program. He falsely agreed he would use the proceeds of the loan solely as working capital to alleviate economic injury related to the COVID-19 pandemic, prosecutors said.
Instead, Belletieri used significant portions of the $825,000 he received from the SBA for personal uses, the release said.
Belletieri is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 12 and faces a maximum possible sentence of 40 years in prison.
The case was investigated by FBI Philadelphia’s Allentown Resident Agency with assistance from the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Boscia and Rebecca J. Kulik. Belletieri gave his plea before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl.
