A former private equity executive has pled guilty to fraud for misappropriating more than US$10 million from investors in his firm’s funds.
In late 2025, U.S. authorities charged Giovanni Pennetta — managing partner at investment advisory and private equity firm Sestante Capital LLC — with securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft amid allegations that, starting in 2019, he enticed investors to buy into his firm’s funds by promising them access to companies that were on the verge of going public (pre-IPO) companies through a private fund, NextGenTech Investments LLC, that was advised by Sestante.
However, Pennetta didn’t have access to the shares he promised investors and instead diverted investors’ money to his own accounts, authorities charged.
“Over a period of roughly six years, Pennetta, the manager of a Manhattan-based investment adviser and private equity firm, engaged in a scheme to defraud investors who had entrusted him with millions of dollars to access shares of private companies,” authorities said in court filings.
On Thursday, Pennetta pled guilty to one charge of wire fraud.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9.