Man pleads guilty to financial fraud

A Matawan man is facing five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of financial fraud last week for his involvement in a bank scam while working at a car business in Eatontown.

On Sept. 3, Salvatore Rivello, 50, of Matawan, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree theft by deception, four counts of third-degree identity theft and one count of fourth-degree deceptive business practices, according to police reports.

Rivello entered his guilty plea pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office will recommend that Rivello be sentenced to a five-year state prison term, according to reports.

Rivello is scheduled to appear for sentencing on Jan. 30. He is being held on bail pending the hearing.

Rivello's guilty plea comes as a result of an investigation initiated by the Prosecutor's Office and the Eatontown Police Department. The Investigation began after the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) closed and suspended the business license for Chrysler of Eatontown in January 2007, for numerous MVC code violations, authorities said.

Rivello was an employee of Chrysler of Eatontown. Through the investigation it was revealed that 18 fraudulent loans, with a total value of more than $715,000, were processed through the dealership between August and December 2006.

Overall, four separate financial institutions were defrauded, including PNC Bank, Capital One Bank, Bank of America and North Fork Bank.

Four of the transactions that Rivello was directly responsible for involved defrauding PNC Bank by utilizing the identity of others without their knowledge or consent, according to authorities.

"Rivello's fraudulent criminal conduct caused substantial pecuniary losses to financial institutions and victimized numerous innocent individuals," Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin said.

"The state prison sentence anticipated by the plea agreement will punish Rivello and, hopefully, deter those who would engage in similar conduct," Valentin added.