Breaking: Kris Roglieri pleads guilty, $55m judgment ordered

James T. Foley Courthouse

November 13, Albany, NY -  Kris Roglieri was brought into an Albany, NY courtroom in handcuffs, dressed in a drab olive prison uniform with “RCCF Inmate” emblazoned on the back. Today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of NY, Kris Roglieri, former owner of Prime Capital Ventures, LLC, the NACLB, CCTG, and Prime Commercial Lending, entered a plea of guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, a felony.  This represented a dramatic turn of events in a case that had been scheduled for trial in January, where Mr. Roglieri had pleaded not guilty to 5 counts of wire fraud.  

Roglieri, 45, of Queensbury, New York, was living the high life before the beginning of 2024 when federal agents raided his house. He was first charged with five counts of wire fraud.  A superseding indictment in June for conspiracy to commit wire fraud added yet another felony charge to the list of his accused crimes. Today’s hearing represented a plea to the charge leveled in the superseding indictment, which, with all things considered, may be a good deal for Mr. Roglieri.

Kris Roglieri

Prosecutors alleged that Roglieri and his co-conspirators touted Prime Capital as a business that could provide large commercial business loans.  Roglieri and his co-conspirators would collect up-front payments, which were touted as an “Interest Credit Account”(ICA) in lieu of future loan payouts. Instead, the ICA money was used to purchase luxury cars, watches, vacations, and real estate.

It quickly turned into a Ponzi scheme when Roglieri used money from new clients to make some payouts to older ones. The total scope of the fraud is in the tens of millions of dollars. In the initial court filing, only one victim was indicated, but in today’s hearing, the prosecution detailed the sprawling nature of the fraud, naming several other victims who were conned by Mr. Roglieri, that could be seen in lawsuits they filed against his company. 

Initially, Roglieri had claimed it was he who had been duped by a hedge fund called Berone Capital that did not follow through in its role as a backer of funding. 

Then his co-conspirators started making deals. In May of this year, Christopher Snyder pleaded guilty in the case, having forwarded the Ponzi scheme by wiring money to an old Prime Capital client from a new Prime client’s account. Subsequently, in June,  Kimberly “Kimmy” Humphrey, Snyder's sister, also pleaded guilty to her role in the scam. Immediately after Humphrey’s plea, the superseding indictment for wire fraud conspiracy was handed down to Roglieri.   

In today’s matter-of-fact proceedings, Mr. Roglieri betrayed little emotion.  He casually chatted with his attorneys prior to Judge Mae A. D’Agostino entering the courtroom, which was filled with approximately 20 onlookers.  Once the hearing commenced,

Prosecutor J. Rosenthal, Esq., laid out their evidence in great detail.  He divulged that approximately $54 million had been obtained through the fraud by Prime Capital.  One was a deal struck with a company named Onward LLC, which had wired three payments to Prime, intended for the ICA, which totalled 20 million dollars.  

Roglieri and Prime then used money from another company, 1322 Developments, to return $17 million to Onward, ostensibly as part of their loan payment. 1322 Developments never saw any money returned to them.

Mr. Rosenthal then proceeded to name other companies that were caught up in the scam, how their money was moved around in Mr. Roglieri’s shell game, and the lavish lifestyle which these ill-gotten gains afforded him.  

Forfeiture Item List

This charge, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, $250,000 in fines, and three years of supervised release. In accordance with the plea deal, the prosecution offered projected guidelines for sentencing as follows: a prison sentence of 97-121 months (approx 8-10 years), the forfeiture of items (money and tangibles such as real estate, cars, and other luxury items purchased by Mr. Roglieri, some of which have already been auctioned), and restitution for victims.  

Mr. Roglieri spoke clearly, stating that he understood all of the allegations and was indeed guilty as charged. Judge D’Agostino kept the proceedings moving at a brisk pace, the whole affair taking approximately one hour only due to the lengthy, painstakingly detailed account of Rogliei’s crimes.  

Sentencing for Mr. Roglieri has been scheduled for March 11th, 2026, at 10:00 AM.