| FTE
Networks
Fraudster
Sirotka Pled
Guilty in
Cooperation
Deal now US
Cites 5K1 for
Nov 12
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY EXCLUSIVE,
Nov 7 – Michael Palleschi was
indicted in July 2021, along
with two other FTE Networks
executives, for fraud.
On August
22, 2023 unannounced Palleschi
appeared in order to plead
guilty, to a cooperator's
deal, before U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York
Magistrate Judge Sarah
Netburn. Inner City Press was
there, the only media in the
SDNY Mag court.
Palleschi said he was 48 years
old, some college, no degree.
He pleaded guilty to all six
counts, including an
aggravated identity theft
charge that carries a
mandatory two year consecutive
sentence.
But that's
only if you don't
cooperate.
The plea
agreement envisioned the
prosecutors writing a 5K1
letter to District Judge
Colleen McMahon when the time
comes. And the time is not yet
set - there is not even a
control date, no PSR.
Inner City
Press in 2023 asked in
writing, against whom could
Pelleschi be cooperating
against? His two
co-defendants, David Lethem
and Anthony Sirotka,
represented by Baker &
Hostetler?
The
Assistant US Attorney read a
long statement, including the
Pelleschi took the corporate
jet on a family vacation to
Peru, and used company
resources for a similar junket
to Watertown, New
York.
But when the US
Attorney's Office wrote in on
November 7, 2025 about
Sirotka, it said HE has
cooperated, and Palleschi got
12 years. What happened?
The case is
called US v. Palleschi, et
al., 21-cr-454 (McMahon /
Netburn)
***
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