Pizzetti, Owner of Failed NY Bakery Sentenced for Stealing Almost 3 Million from Former Employer
Selvaggia Pizzetti, 44, stole close to $3 million dollars from her former employer, an elderly man who hired her as an assistant bookkeeper.
From January 2010 to March 2016, Pizzetti used her employer’s account to pay her bills, transfer money into her accounts, and ultimately spending over a million dollars to finance her failed pastry cafe start-up.
The now-closed Italian sweet shop, Crave.It, was funded with the stolen money, stated the New York City District Attorney. Pizzetti made 23 unauthorized wire transfers, using the stolen money to pay the cafe’s rent, renovations and employee salaries. The 95-year-old employer, Uzzo Quazzo, is the owner of a Manhattan espresso-machine company.
The victim noticed large sums of money missing from his accounts last year, at which point he fired Pizzetti. In addition, Pizzetti didn’t file income tax returns for 2014 or 2015.
On Wednesday, Pizzetti was sentenced with a three to nine year jail sentence, as well as a civil judgement order requiring her to pay back $3.2 million dollars. Pizzetti plead guilty to one count of criminal tax fraud in the second degree, one count of criminal tax fraud in the third degree, and one count of grand larceny, on February 8th, 2017.
