Canton man acquitted in $40M fraud federal case

A jury has found a Canton man not guilty in a federal criminal case involving an alleged $40 million financial fraud scheme, according to court documents.

James Torchia of Canton, was the CEO of a company named Credit Nation, which purchased life insurance policies and subprime auto loans and sold promissory notes for the policies and loans to investors.

On Oct. 24, Torchia was found not guilty of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, as well as six counts of mail fraud. An additional count of mail fraud was "dismissed on government motion," court filings show. He was acquitted of all charges Oct. 26.

Prosecutors said that the notes were not backed by hard assets, and accused Torchia of pushing investments into Credit Nation, raising over $40 million, lying to investors, knowing the company did not have the money to cover the notes.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a federal civil complaint in 2015 alleging Credit Nation investors had been defrauded out of millions of dollars. Torchia's attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Credit Nation's former vice president and attorney, Marc Celello, pleaded guilty in 2019 in a plea deal in the case to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, court records show. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 30.

"Marc has cooperated and is looking forward to getting this behind him," said Nicholas Lotito, Celello's attorney.

A representative of the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment.