Construction Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Fraud
Source: Santa Barbara County District Attorney
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announced [Friday] that Mark John Melchiori pled guilty to one count of felony diversion of construction funds, one count of felony prevailing wage fraud, and one count of felony unlawful money transmission. Melchiori also admitted a special allegation that the amount taken was in excess of $100,000.00 within the meaning of Penal Code section 1203.045, and an aggravated white collar crime enhancement that the amount he took was in excess of $500,000.00 within the meaning of Penal Code section 186.11(a)(2).
This case arose from a complaint by victim Robert Zemeckis that he had paid Melchiori Construction Company several hundred thousand dollars to remodel his home, but the defendant illegally used the money for his own purposes. After an exhaustive investigation, the District Attorney’s Office found that the defendant had used Mr. Zemeckis’s money to finance his own lavish lifestyle and to fund other projects. With the assistance of both the California Department of Insurance and the California Department of Industrial Relations, the District Attorney’s Office also found that the defendant had been under paying his workers on public works projects to finance his lifestyle, and that he had been funneling money through various companies to cover up his crimes.
The hard work and dedication of Deputy District Attorney Casey Nelson, District Attorney Investigator Patrick Adams, California Department of Insurance, Criminal Investigations Branch, Fraud Division, and the California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement throughout this investigation allowed for the successful prosecution of this case.
A setting hearing for sentencing in this matter will be on January 8, 2020. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of 9 years, and 4 months in state prison.
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28 Comments
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Oct 19, 2019 12:49 PMI wonder about his own employees he "allegedly" stole money from...?
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Oct 19, 2019 07:12 PMYeah. I'm acquainted with one, who believed in his boss. No idea if he got his $ back.
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Oct 19, 2019 10:24 PMMatytyboy, his employees are gonna get screwed too - no money & now no job - double shaft from a total shmuck.
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Oct 19, 2019 10:52 PMGOING to get screwed?! Has Melchiori Construction had any employees for the past few years?! Who would hire them?
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Oct 20, 2019 12:44 AMI mean who would hire the company, if it even existed, not who would hire those who have worked there!
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Oct 19, 2019 01:12 PMLong ago I worked with this guy (and his wife). Good people. Money troubles snowball so easily in life and seemingly even more so in construction. Especially if you're ego gets in the way and allows you to forget there is no such thing as an unattractive trap.
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Oct 19, 2019 01:45 PM1:12 PM- When good people have financial problems they downsize and figure out how to live within their means. Good people don’t underpay their workers and skim taxpayer dollars. Good people don’t commit fraud for years to continue to live a lavish lifestyle. Good people don’t tarnish the family business. He is going to look good in orange.
Comment has been deleted by edhat
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Oct 19, 2019 07:14 PMIf you're content, fine. But he is a criminal and screwed over lots of people. What is it with sons of construction dynasties in SB?! Looking at RP Richards...
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Oct 19, 2019 01:44 PMGood people dont do what he did. Hopefully this will send a message to the other unscrupulous, crooked contractors in town. There are a few worthy of the same end result...
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Oct 19, 2019 03:36 PMI too knew this guy and his wife. Not good people. Not even close.
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Oct 19, 2019 05:16 PM“Good people?” That’s a joke right? Took long enough to get to this point. Now let’s see if the court is concerned at all with the victims.
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Oct 19, 2019 06:12 PMAsk the victims if they think this guy is a good person. Needing a "lavish lifestyle" doesn't sound too good.
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Oct 19, 2019 06:20 PMMelchiori is a well-known name here in the construction business. Too bad this guy decided to rob his customers and his workers. What a shame. Glad he was caught.
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Oct 19, 2019 07:15 PMAnd ruin the name and the business.
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Oct 19, 2019 06:22 PMCouldn't remember what movies Zemeckis is famous for directing. Had to look it up. Forrest Gump and Back to the Future.
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Oct 19, 2019 07:35 PMdarn it, he shoulda faced up to it and paid his creditors! How did he think he'd get out of it or be found innocent? This has been a case for many years! So angry. But it's the way of the world. Look at our national administration.
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Oct 20, 2019 02:58 PMYes, and while you are at it, look at the former administration “not a shred of scandal” they say. $50,000 + a week to pay the son of former V.P. as an advisor for a Ukrainian energy company for which he had zero experience.
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Oct 20, 2019 05:26 PMAre you serious? What planet do you live on? ultra wealthy ultra connected people get paid scams of money to sit on boards and do nothing, doesn't matter what their politics and it's not illegal, it's just immoral.
Look at the Trump kids.
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Oct 19, 2019 11:52 PMWhy would you give a person a couple $100Ks before they even did some work? Shouldn't you pay as each phase is completed? I am not saying it is a victim's fault, I am seriously asking, if that is a normal practice?
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Oct 20, 2019 02:35 PM10% down is not a surprise. Have you seen the cost of construction in these parts?
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Oct 21, 2019 06:48 PMDoesn't mean he did NO work at that site. I heard of his malfeasance decades ago re: UCSB projects.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Noozhawk article Dec. 17: "Melchiori Construction Company filed for bankruptcy in 2012, and Melchiori has also personally filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy." ------------------------------------------------ https://www.noozhawk.com/article/mark_melchiori_pleads_not_guilty_criminal_charges_construction_company
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Oct 20, 2019 12:36 AMhttps://www.noozhawk.com/article/mark_melchiori_pleads_guilty_in_construction
"Mark Melchiori pleaded guilty to three felony charges related to his family’s now-defunct construction company on Friday, the day his criminal trial was scheduled to start in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
Melchiori, 52, was criminally investigated and originally charged with 47 felony counts, including embezzlement and fraud, after filing for bankruptcy for the company and personally in 2012.
The criminal complaint was consolidated, and Melchiori pleaded guilty to diversion of construction funds, prevailing wage fraud, and unlawful money transmission, Deputy District Attorney Casey Nelson told Noozhawk.
Melchiori also admitted special allegations that the financial losses were more than $100,000 and more than $500,000, Nelson said.
Local News
Melchiori Faces Prison After Pleading Guilty in Construction-Fraud Case
By Giana Magnoli, Noozhawk Managing Editor | @magnoli | October 18, 2019 | 3:37 p.m.
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Mark Melchiori
Mark Melchiori
Mark Melchiori pleaded guilty to three felony charges related to his family’s now-defunct construction company on Friday, the day his criminal trial was scheduled to start in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
Melchiori, 52, was criminally investigated and originally charged with 47 felony counts, including embezzlement and fraud, after filing for bankruptcy for the company and personally in 2012.
The criminal complaint was consolidated, and Melchiori pleaded guilty to diversion of construction funds, prevailing wage fraud, and unlawful money transmission, Deputy District Attorney Casey Nelson told Noozhawk.
Melchiori also admitted special allegations that the financial losses were more than $100,000 and more than $500,000, Nelson said.
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With the plea, Melchiori could be sentenced to up to nine years and four months in state prison, and Judge James Herman will set a sentencing hearing in January, Nelson said.
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Oct 20, 2019 08:50 AMThere is nothing good, nothing at all, about Mark and his ex wife Heather.
We know Mark and his lowlife and duplicitous ex wife, and their daughter. We also knew Mark's father Ugo that started the business.
Mark and Heather created a string of shell companies to deposit money into from multiple large and medium sized projects and construction loans, and then strung along subcontractors by giving them portions of payment as they were working on multiple jobs with them. He strung along clients by getting some of the work done in order to trigger payments. He strung along lenders.
A pretty standard scam in contracting.
UCSB banned his company from campus, well before the indictment, for substandard work and not completing a building on campus.
After Ugo died Mark began stealing money and equity from his step mother etc. as well.
There is nothing good about these two as they actively defrauded and stole from anyone close to them. Mark knowingly and intentionally used his father's good name to be a criminal. Mark knowingly and intentionally leveraged all of the equity that his father had created to help with his "shell game".
Hopefully his ex wife will also end up in jail. Their poor daughter is the only victim in the family.
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Oct 20, 2019 09:23 AMS many wonderful tradespeople in this town and so many sketchy, overpaid, self entitled GCs. I learned my lesson, now I ONLY bring in big companies from out of town to do work on my property.
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Oct 20, 2019 10:09 AMCompliments to the DA's office for this prosecution. Nice to see something that is not political, although one wonders if they would have so aggressive had the victim not been a celebrity.
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Oct 20, 2019 07:32 PMWhy did it take so long for this guy to go to jail? He’s been running this racket I town for 20 years and has been in the news for the past ten at least. I hope he sees jail time this time. Certainly his contractor’s license has been revoked.
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Oct 21, 2019 10:16 AMHe took his father business down in flames. Ugo would not be proud
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Feb 21, 2020 10:22 AMI wonder if they will undo the divorce settlement between Mark and Heather? Heather got all the money and assets, Mark got the company and debt. The money and assets should go to the victims.