Fake Twice Wounded SF Iraq Vet Pleads Guilty to Fraud

| January 19, 2023

Justin Costello claims he was in Special Forces and a veteran of Iraq.  He also claimed he was wounded twice.  In addition, he claimed he was a billionaire from the cannabis industry.

This ruse all came to an end when he pled guilty to fraud.

Fake cannabis billionaire Justin Costello pleads guilty in $35 million fraud, with recommended prison term of 10 years
WED, JAN 18 | DAN MANGAN

KEY POINTS

* Justin Costello, who posed as a billionaire and twice-wounded Special Forces Iraq vet to dupe investors while portraying himself as a legal cannabis mogul, pleaded guilty to securities fraud.

* Prosecutors in federal court in Seattle agreed to recommend a sentence of 10 years in prison for Costello, according to a plea agreement he signed with them.

* Costello’s guilty plea came three months after the 42-year-old was apprehended in southern California by an FBI SWAT team.

* He had failed to surrender days earlier to face an indictment accusing him of a $35 million fraud.

Justin Costello, who posed as a billionaire and twice-wounded Special Forces Iraq veteran to dupe investors while portraying himself as a legal cannabis mogul, pleaded guilty Wednesday to securities fraud.

Under a plea agreement with Costello, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 10 years in prison, with Costello echoing that call and being barred from asking for less time than that.

Costello also agreed to pay victims of his frauds — which related to cannabis firms, a would-be bank, and stock pump-and-dumps — not less than $35 million in restitution.

Costello’s guilty plea in federal court in Seattle came three months after an FBI SWAT team apprehended the 42-year-old in a remote area of southern California, carrying a backpack containing gold bars, $70,000 in U.S. and Mexican currency, and a fake ID.

While it is nice knowing Costello was caught and is going to pay the price, it is another case of it seeming like it has more to do with the money than the embellished military service. Whatever works, I guess.

Category: Purple Heart

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Green Thumb

If only Phil Monkress had a son…

MIRanger

$70k in cash, gold bars and agrees to pay $35M in restitution…maybe he was a Billionaire!

Green Thumb

About to skip the country, head to Mexico City, push East toward the coast, catch a boat across the Gulf, sneak in to Miami and make his was NE to All-Points Logistics.

HT3

I’m sure that Thor, Bubba, and Mr. Tiny will be using some kind of “Special Forces” to entertain this fellow…
Amarite or amarite?

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Soon enough it won’t be “Special”, and no need to use “Force”.

Berliner

HT3… Justin will be doing a lot of that in the prison shower to earn restitution money. 😜 

Hate_me

If he agreed to a 10-year stint, I’ve gotta imagine there was a stipulation that it be one of the white-collar resorts rather than some pound-me-in-the-ass prison.

Daisy Cutter

All true…

Many years ago I used to date a girl whose father owned a small sanitation service. I left the military and moved away so the relationship ended. About 30 years later I moved back and suddenly I saw her last name on those sanitation trucks around town in addition to just about every port-a-potty at parks, construction sites, etc.

If I would have played my cards right I could have been the Port-A-Potty king of half the state. *sigh*

Not as sexy as this billionaire, but legit.

MustangCPT

Small sanitation service? Was this business in the vicinity of Lodi, NJ by any chance?🤣

Daisy Cutter

Nope. You can rule that one out.

KoB

There is no scum lower than a despicable individual that stands on the bodies and in the blood of Combat Wounded Warriors to make a claim of being wounded. May he be awarded multiple times with the Purple Taint from the boys in Cell Block C. He may start out as a “tight end” but will soon become a “wide receiver”.

I hereby make a motion for the Deployment of the Vaunted TAH As(s)teroid of Insults on the POS Justin Costello.

Can I get a SECOND and an AYE?

SFC D

Second! Third! Someone gimme an AYE!

ninja

KABOOM!!!!

☠️

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Where’s his co-partner in crime, Abbot?
HEYYYY ABBBOTTTT!!!!!!

WHO’S ON FIRST!?

I’m forced to post this. No apology will be forthcoming.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

ROFLOL! No apology required.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

I’m glad that I read all the comments. I read your HEYYYY ABBBOTTTT!!!!!! which I was going to type in the same as yours.

A Proud Infidel®™

“Don’t steal, the Government hates the competition.” – Unknown

He’s a-gonna need to know just who to offer his desserts to for protection and even with that, someone is still going to have his ass from time to time!

ninja

“It’s easy to be someone you’re not, but hard to be yourself,” Wisconsin teenager Justin Costello wrote under his senior photo in the Oconomowoc High School yearbook in 1999.”

“Twenty-three years later, an FBI SWAT team would arrest Costello hiding from police outside of San Diego, in part, because he was posing as someone he wasn’t: a billionaire with a Harvard MBA who was a twice-wounded Special Forces Iraq veteran.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/accused-fraudster-justin-costello-has-history-of-posing-as-billionaire-and-threatening-cops-police-say.html

The Love Of Money Is The Root Of All Evil

12885.jpeg
Green Thumb

The “Phildoesqueness” of the photo is strong.

ninja

“Prosecutors agreed as part of the plea deal not to file criminal charges against Costello’s wife “for any offenses known” to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington in connection with the investigation.”

“Costello had used about $42,000 of investors’ money to pay for his wedding, prosecutors have said. That wedding featured a cake and an ice sculpture featuring the “007” James Bond movie logo.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/fake-billionaire-justin-costello-pleads-guilty-in-fraud.html

🫣

ninja

Maybe we can get this back as well..

“$163 Billion Of COVID Relief Was Stolen. Republicans Must Get To The Bottom Of It”

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/163-billion-covid-relief-stolen-republicans-must-get-bottom-it

ninja

Durn It.

“Supreme Court Investigation Fails To Identify Leaker Of Dobbs Draft Decision”

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-investigation-fails-identify-leaker-of-dobbs-draft-decision

“An investigation by the U.S. Supreme Court has failed to identify the culprit who leaked a draft Court decision that signaled the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling the legalized abortion at the federal level.”

“Per the Marshal’s report, the investigation team has been “unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence.”

😤

Hate_me

It doesn’t seem like it was much of an investigation.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Did he actually serve in the Military????????????

Green Thumb

Next to Phildo in “Call of Duty”.

Forrest Bondurant

Depending on how many gold bars he had, their worth could amount to a small fortune.

On January 1st, a troy ounce of gold was valued at $1,817.00.

JustALurkinAround

Costello, you dumb fuck, you’re doing it wrong!

Whenever I play pretend, I tell people I’m a medically retired CW3 that was hurt trying to pile drive fuck a midget on a mechanical bull while on leave in TJ. NO ONE doubts my story.

On a side note, I spent today drinking beer and watching Smokey and the Bandit.

I’m Army Strooooooooooong!

Give me a diablo sandwich, a Dr. Pepper, and make it quick, I’m in a goddamn hurry.

Last edited 1 year ago by JustALurkinAround
Daisy Cutter

For those that don’t know what ‘diablo’ means…

Skivvy Stacker

That was YOU???
All these years I thought I was hallucinatin’

Daisy Cutter

Be all you can be.

A businessman was interviewing job applicants for the position of manager of a large division.

He devised a test for choosing the most suitable candidate.

He simply asked each applicant this question, “What is two plus two?”

The first interviewee was a journalist.

His answer was, “Twenty-two”.

The second was a social worker.

She said, “I don’t know the answer but I’m very glad that we had the opportunity to discuss it.”

The third applicant was an engineer.

He pulled out a slide rule and came up with an answer “somewhere between 3.999 and 4.001.”

Next came an attorney.

He stated that “in the case of Jenkins vs. the Department of the Treasury, two plus two was proven to be four.”

Finally, the businessman interviewed an accountant.
When he asked him what two plus two was, the accountant got up from his chair, went over to the door, closed it, came back, and said in a low voice, “How much do you want it to be?”

He got the job.