SBCDistrictAttorney
Santa Barbara County District Attorney John T. Savrnoch announced [last week] that on April 18, 2024, 42-year-old Santa Barbara County resident Adam Michael Pirozzi was sentenced to five years of probation, ordered to pay a $1,065,000.00 fine, and to serve 30 days in jail.
The court also ordered Mr. Pirozzi to pay $1,275,388.73 in victim restitution. Mr. Pirozzi had previously pled no contest to two counts of embezzlement by a real estate broker in violation of Penal Code § 506, and admitted an enhancement under Penal Code § 186.11(a)(2) that the amount he embezzled was in excess of $500,000.00.
Mr. Pirozzi owned Santa Barbara Property Management, a company responsible for managing various apartment complexes.
Based on a tip from one of Mr. Pirozzi’s clients and a referral from the Santa Barbara Police Department, the District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit, led by District Attorney Investigator Kristen Shamordola, began investigating Mr. Pirozzi’s handling of his client trust accounts.
The investigation ultimately found that Mr. Pirozzi embezzled more than $650,000.00 of his client’s funds.
Pursuant to Penal Code § 186.11, the District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud unit froze multiple homes and bank accounts belonging to Mr. Pirozzi when the criminal case against him was filed. The frozen assets will be used to pay victim restitution in full plus interest and to pay the fine ordered by the court.
District Attorney John Savrnoch stated, “The ability to freeze assets is a valuable tool to ensure that victims can receive restitution and that defendants cannot profit from stolen money.”
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District Attorney John T. Savrnoch Should have sought more jail time. This was a massive theft and 30 days of jail doesn’t fit the crime. Not much of a deterrent to others who might be tempted to duplicate his crime.
Yuck. Realtors are not exactly pillars of society, and this dude is no exception. They’ll be whoever you want them to be, to get your money. When you can’t hack it in the actual professional world, you can always become a real estate agent!
“Realtors” is a copyrighted name intended to give professional status to a job that is basically designed so the “agent” is around when money changes hands and convinces the parties that s/he deserves an unreasonable payoff for bringing them together. Real estate agents (and escrow officers and title insurance as well) and car dealers and stock brokers and such offer no real service but have wormed into positions to control access and flow. The job is filled with “personalities” but not with honest workers who charge a fee commensurate with the work and costs involved.