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Below is a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida:
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell has sentenced Phillip Roy Wasserman (67, Sarasota) to 15 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, substantive counts of wire fraud and mail fraud, and evasion of payment of income taxes. As part of his sentence, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $6,318,299.75, the proceeds of the criminal conduct.
A federal jury had found Wasserman guilty of the fraud charges on May 15, 2023. Wasserman pleaded guilty to tax evasion on October 23, 2023.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Wasserman, a former lawyer and licensed insurance agent, and his co-conspirator Kenneth Rossman, a Florida certified public accountant and licensed insurance agent, made false and fraudulent misrepresentations and concealed material information in order to convince elderly victim-investors to put their money into Wasserman’s new insurance venture, “FastLife.” Some victim-investors were persuaded to liquidate traditional investments, such as annuities, and/or to borrow funds against existing life insurance policies to generate cash to invest in the venture. These victim-investors were not told about surrender fees and other costs associated with said liquidations, and Rossman prepared income tax returns for victim-investors in a manner designed to conceal negative personal tax consequences that resulted from liquidations. Wasserman paid Rossman a percentage of the victim-investors’ money as compensation for his role in the conspiracy. Wasserman also used victim-investors’ money to make Ponzi-style payments to earlier victim-investors in the FastLife venture, as well as to victim-investors in his earlier hedge fund and real estate fund ventures. Wasserman spent a significant amount of the victim-investors’ money to finance a lavish lifestyle that included a luxury personal residence, a beach house on Casey Key, professional hockey season and playoff tickets, concerts and other shows, vehicles, jet skis, jewelry, including a diamond ring, personal celebrity entertainment, gambling, retail shopping, home improvements, personal insurance, and a host of other expenses for his personal benefit and the benefit of family members.