A 68-year-old Upper East Side man has been indicted for allegedly stealing more than $343,000 from three older New Yorkers by pitching them on an investment that didn’t exist.
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Michael D’Antoni is charged with two counts of second-degree grand larceny, one count of third-degree grand larceny and one count of first-degree scheme to defraud, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced on October 20. Prosecutors say his alleged victims were two retirees and a recently widowed woman raising her 10-year-old grandson.According to the DA’s office, D’Antoni asked the victims to invest in a plan to have Levi’s jeans manufactured in Medellin, Colombia, and shipped to the United States, where he said he’d sell them at a profit.
Prosecutors say D’Antoni met the first victim, a man who’d recently retired, in summer 2021, when the man’s home insurance company hired D’Antoni as an estimator to oversee construction on his water-damaged home. In spring 2023, D’Antoni allegedly told the man he’d get 20% interest compounded over a three-month term, plus his principal back, if he invested. The man gave him $100,000 in July 2023.
D’Antoni met the second victim in December 2023, when he was hired to oversee construction on her family home after it was damaged by fire, according to the DA’s office. The woman had recently lost her mother, her partner and her daughter, and was raising her grandson on her own. D’Antoni allegedly promised her 5% interest compounded over a three-month term, plus her principal back. She gave him $225,000 in five installments between February and June 2024.
Prosecutors say D’Antoni met the third victim in Rome while she was on vacation, two months after her husband died. He allegedly promised her 4% interest compounded over a three-month term, plus her principal back, and she gave him $18,200 in two installments between December 2024 and March 2025.
None of the three ever received interest payments or got their money back, according to the DA’s office. Instead, prosecutors allege, D’Antoni made cash withdrawals and spent the money on travel, hotels, restaurants, life insurance and credit card payments, luxury goods and more.
It’s not the first time D’Antoni has faced accusations like these. In 2014, Daily Voice described him as a self-employed business consultant from Closter, NJ, who’d also acted in off-Broadway plays. That year, Bergen County prosecutors charged him with taking more than $100,000 from four people for goods that were supposed to be exported overseas. Then-Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said the goods were never purchased and the overseas buyers didn’t exist.
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D’Antoni was arrested in Manhattan when he showed up for a court hearing in November 2014 and was extradited to New Jersey, according to the report. Records cited by Daily Voice showed he was already under a 2013 Bergen County indictment on forgery charges, and that he’d cleared an earlier 2008 indictment on similar charges through a pre-trial intervention program. The report didn’t say how the 2014 case was resolved.“Michael D’Antoni allegedly scammed three older New Yorkers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by lying about an investment opportunity,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. “We urge New Yorkers to exercise caution when making investments, and to only do so through trusted institutions and licensed brokers.”
The DA’s office is asking anyone who’s been the victim of an investment scam to call 212-335-8900. Older New Yorkers who’ve been scammed can also call 212-335-9007.
The charges are allegations, and D’Antoni is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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