Founder of Suspect Irvine Investment Firm Found Dead
The controversial founder of Irvine investment firm DFJ Italia, which closed its doors in March and left about 700 investors with losses of more than $35 million, was found dead in his home Monday night from an apparent overdose of prescription medication, police said.
Paramedics were summoned to Luigi DiFonzo’s Laguna Niguel home at 5:22 p.m. and found the body, police said. DiFonzo was 53.
A coroner’s investigation will attempt to determine the cause of death, but there was no indication of foul play, said Steve Doan, an investigator with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
DiFonzo was the target of federal probes stemming from allegations that his company bilked hundreds of investors nationwide. Investors were told their money would be used to buy precious metals and to profit from European currency trading.
But attorneys for investors say that DFJ executives used the money to buy mansions, cars and jewelry, among other things.
“It was a Ponzi scheme,” said Steven Katzman, a Costa Mesa attorney for the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee in the DFJ Italia case. “It was fraud.”
No criminal charges have been filed. FBI agents raided DiFonzo’s home in late March, seizing records and other evidence.
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