Construction Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Fraud

He took his father business down in flames. Ugo would not be proud

Why 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 Certainly his contractor’s license has been revoked.

Compliments 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.

S 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.

There 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.

https://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. Share on emailShare on print 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. PlayPlay Seek 00:00 Current time01:00 Toggle Mute Volume Toggle Fullscreen Free Air and Half Off the Second Guest’s Fare! Explore the Galapagos Islands with Celebrity Cruises on the New Celebrity Flora! 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.

Why 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?

darn 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.

Couldn't remember what movies Zemeckis is famous for directing. Had to look it up. Forrest Gump and Back to the Future.

Melchiori 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.

Ask the victims if they think this guy is a good person. Needing a "lavish lifestyle" doesn't sound too good.

“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.

I too knew this guy and his wife. Not good people. Not even close.

Good 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...

Long 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.

I wonder about his own employees he "allegedly" stole money from...?