Former Philadelphia Market CEO charged with stealing $7.8 million

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is charging the former president and CEO of the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, Caesar “Sonny” DiCrecchio, 60, of Voorhees, N.J., with stealing more than $7.8 million from his employer over several years before he resigned in 2018.

The U.S. Department of Justice attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania formally charged DiCrecchio — more than two years after an investigation began — with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and tax evasion, according to a March 11 justice department news release.

Investigators allege that DiCrecchio had control over every aspect of the market, including the use of funds, and was required to report on the market’s finances to its board of directors.

“Caesar DiCrecchio stands charged with a massive theft from the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market,” Michael J. Driscoll, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia division, said in the release. “Stealing business funds for personal use is fraud, plain and simple, and anyone padding their paycheck like this can expect a whole lot of attention from the FBI.”

DiCrecchio faces a maximum sentence of 102 years in prison, a three-year period of supervised release and a fine of $2.5 million.

Separately, a supervisor at United Check Cashing on South Broad Street in Philadelphia, Thomas Del Borrello, 42, of Sewell, N.J., was also charged with aggravated false filing of a currency transaction report and aggravated failure to file a currency transaction report.

“The Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market has and continues to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this matter, and we look forward to those criminally responsible for the fraud being held accountable,” according to a market statement through its spokesperson, Nell Callahan, founder of the Frontwood Strategies public relations firm.

The market is one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s main sources of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Since DiCrecchio’s resignation in late summer-fall of 2018, the market has established new management, including Mark Smith as president and general manager, and new board leadership.

They are focused on ensuring that the market is a trusted partner for its vendors and customers, according to the statement.

“Over the past three years, we have implemented new policies and procedures to strengthen the market and ensure we serve our customers well,” according to the spokesperson.

According to the attorney’s office, the defendant defrauded the market by using company funds to pay $1.9 million in rent on his Stone Harbor, N.J., shore house; converting into cash $1.1 million in checks drawn on the market’s bank account and using the cash for his own benefit; causing $1.7 million in checks to be issued from the market operating account payable to his friends or relatives; causing the market to pay for the defendant’s personal credit card expenditures; converting $320,000 in checks that were payable to the market and cashing them for his own benefit; skimming $2.6 million in cash from the pay gate at the market’s parking lot, which he used to pay market employees “under the table” while keeping a substantial portion for his own use; and using market funds to provide a $180,000 loan to a market vendor, which the vendor repaid directly to DiCrecchio.

Investigators charge that the defendant concealed these expenditures in the market’s books and records by directing that these payments be reflected as legitimate business expenditures, for example: notated as maintenance, snow removal, insurance, legal fees and other false expenditure entries.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s organized crime task force, the IRS Criminal Investigation department, and the Pennsylvania state police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael T. Donovan.