Del Biaggio To Do Hard Time

Silicon Valley financier William “Boots” Del Biaggio III faces more than six years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of fraud for using forged documents to obtain $110 million in loans to buy a 24 percent stake in the NHL’s Nashville Predators.

In court papers, Del Biaggio pleaded guilty to fraud and said he will attempt to pay back his victims.

The son of a respected banker, Del Biaggio bought a 2 percent share of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks in 2002. Two years later he was part of an investment group including Pittsburgh Penguins owner and golf buddy Mario Lemieux.

But the millions he needed to purchase a 24 percent stake in the Predators was beyond this Vegas high-roller’s means, so he turned to David Cacchione, a stockbroker who owed him $2 million.

The two came up with a simple but illegal plan to make it happen, according to federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cacchione e-mailed Del Biaggio account statements from wealthy clients showing tens of millions of dollars in stock holdings. Del Biaggio replaced the names with his own and used the documents to obtain the loans he needed.

He is scheduled for sentencing in July to at least six and a half years in prison.

Del Biaggio’s world began unraveling about a year ago, when New York-based Modern Bank demanded repayment of its loan after discovering the accounts he used as collateral did not belong to him. Other lenders, including the bank he and his father started in the ’90s, filed suit and Del Biaggio filed for bankruptcy.

Investors he fleeced include Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold and AEG, which combined to loan him $17 million. An SEC lawsuit also outlines a separate, $19 million Ponzi scheme Del Biaggio used to support his lavish lifestyle.