was the guy under DURESS when he accepted the plea deal? I suspect so! that doesnt mean he isnt a rip off artist. just that he copped a plea under duress! Original Article Phony-pill seller wants funds back, conviction tossed Dennis Wagner The Arizona Republic May. 8, 2006 12:00 AM Michael Consoli and his associates made nearly $78 million selling mail-order pills they claimed would enlarge men's sex organs, enhance women's breasts and even improve golf scores. There was no scientific basis for saying the pills worked. The Scottsdale-based company, C.P. Direct, duped an estimated 450,000 buyers with fraudulent sales tactics. Some also were victimized by a credit-card billing scam. That's what it says in Maricopa County Superior Court records, including plea agreements signed in August 2003 by Consoli and his nephew and partner, Vincent Passafiume. They admitted guilt. They told a judge they weren't coerced. They agreed not to contest the government's seizure of the assets, including $26 million in cash, $1.3 million worth of exotic cars, and 14 homes and other properties valued at $18.8 million. They renounced all rights to appeal. But now, the two Paradise Valley men claim they are victims of an overzealous state investigator who colluded with a dishonest witness. And they contend that the Arizona Attorney General's Office strong-armed their guilty pleas, even though a separate inquiry by Maricopa County sheriff's detectives found no evidence of misconduct by investigators. So, more than two years after serving his time, Consoli is asking the state Court of Appeals to overturn the convictions. He is also calling for an FBI investigation of "government corruption" and hopes to get back whatever is left of the money. "All I wanted to do is make guys' penises 3 inches longer, and I'm the bad guy?" Consoli asks. "This is about what the state of Arizona did to us to get the money." Across town, Assistant Attorney General Marc Knops shakes his head. He says court records clearly identify the bad guys in this tale: Consoli and Passafiume. According to one witness, the two laughed at the gullibility of men who bought penis-enlarging pills known as Longitude and SizeMax. They acquired Paradise Valley mansions and drove exotic cars when they weren't being chauffeured around in a white limousine. They kept more than $2.8 million in neatly stacked $100 bills inside a bedroom safe. And they pleaded guilty. Knops rolls his eyes when asked about the continuing battle for money from the magic-pill business. All kinds of people put in claims on the company's assets: fraud victims, law enforcement agencies, attorneys, pill manufacturers, even a nude model from California. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime case," Knops says. "We never see these kinds of funds. And it's kind of like rockets streaming in a lot of different ways. . . . Stay tuned for the next episode." A family affair Consoli sits at a dining room table in Paradise Valley with his 80-year-old mother, Geraldine, and Passafiume. This is the trio's third consumer-fraud mess in a decade. After the first attorney general's investigation, in 1996, they agreed not to rip off customers. Two years later, they were fined $100,000 and banned from doing business in Arizona. So they moved to Las Vegas in 1998 and came up with a plan for a mass-media campaign to sell herbal pills. FatBloc supposedly was a weight reducer. Full & Firm was to enhance breasts. There was even LongJack for improved golf scores. But the big seller was Longitude. According to court records, there was no laboratory and no scientific testing, despite claims of a three-year research project. "I'm the guy who invented that pill," Passafiume, 32, boasts. "Before you know it, we're in GQ Magazine and on Howard Stern commercials." "It's not like it was just pipe dreams," Consoli adds. "We had testimonials." Both men acknowledged in the interview that they made a huge mistake by returning to Arizona in 2000. They said they violated court orders to be with relatives who suffered serious illnesses. Within months, C.P. Direct was doing business in Scottsdale, raking in money. Production costs were just $2.65 for a bottle of 60 pills of Longitude. Consumers were charged more than $50 per container. According to court findings, some customers who wanted only a single order were placed on a monthly program and found it nearly impossible to cancel orders or get refunds. So many complaints poured in that credit-card companies refused to do business with C.P. Direct. Consoli, desperate to continue charging pills to clients, admits he began bribing a broker who allegedly schemed to provide new credit-card services. By late 2001, C.P. Direct was grossing up to $8 million a month. One-quarter of that money went into advertising. A typical commercial for Longitude promised a 26 percent size increase. There was even a before-and-after photo contest, with the winner supposedly getting a Lamborghini. According to declarations in court records, the contest was rigged so Consoli's chauffeur, Thomas "Travis" McKeever, would pose as the winner. Instead, McKeever became the state attorney general's key witness against C.P. Direct. The informer McKeever had gone to work for Consoli in 2001. Within a few months, the new bodyguard and driver received a Corvette, expensive musical equipment and a salary. In December 2001, he either quit or was fired. According to Consoli, McKeever learned that C.P. Direct was operating illegally and demanded $300,000. McKeever, who declined to comment for this story, denied that accusation in an interview with Maricopa County sheriff's investigators. He said Consoli had threatened him and made sexual advances on a juvenile relative, so he went to authorities. In February 2002, McKeever sent a letter to the state Attorney General's Office alleging that Consoli and Passafiume were "laundering money and (conducting) many other illegal activities." The attorney general assigned Dan Kelly, a state Department of Public Safety financial-claims investigator, as lead agent. McKeever told Kelly about fraud at C.P. Direct and claimed he saw Consoli give large amounts of cash to a suspected mob associate in Las Vegas, according to court records. He also helped recruit two other former C.P. Direct employees as witnesses. McKeever was given immunity. Kelly mentioned early on that informers in racketeering cases sometimes are eligible to receive a percentage of assets seized but made no promises. The Attorney General's Office declined a request for an interview with Kelly. In May 2002 the attorney general obtained a search warrant based largely on informer statements, and C.P. Direct was raided. Under a racketeering forfeiture law, authorities seized the company, mansions, exotic cars and other property purchased by Consoli and Passafiume. Lawrence Warfield, a court-appointed receiver assigned to evaluate assets, sell them, pay debts and disburse leftover money, found that the company never filed income-tax returns or prepared normal accounting records. In addition, $23 million had been moved from C.P. Direct into the personal checking accounts of Consoli and Passafiume. Warfield recalls going to Consoli's house, where detectives seized a safe full of cash from a bedroom closet on a Friday afternoon: "I was the only guy in the world driving around in a Hyundai Accent with $2.8 million in the back, looking for a bank to deposit it in." Just rewards? Prosecutors filed criminal charges. Key defendants, including Geraldine Consoli, faced 20 years or more in prison. Lawyers at the Attorney General's Office added a civil racketeering complaint to get bank funds, seven homes worth more than $1 million each, and such exotic cars as a $300,000 Ferrari. As the case dragged on in court, McKeever began hounding Kelly for financial help. He received $1,600 for a home-security system but no reward. Then, in early 2003, the civil and criminal complaints were settled in a single deal: Michael Consoli and Passafiume pleaded guilty to money laundering and fraud, with a punishment of six months in jail and five years of probation. Charges against Geraldine Consoli were dropped. The defendants lost all assets except $1 million cash, a few cars and home furnishings. Consoli and Passafiume were banned from contradicting the plea statements and doing further business in the state. It seemed final. But in November 2003, Consoli sued McKeever and other government witnesses for defamation, saying they lied about fraud at C.P. Direct. That complaint was dropped after the Attorney General's Office filed court papers accusing Consoli of witness tampering. About the same time, McKeever turned against prosecutors. In an interview later with sheriff's deputies, McKeever explained that he had become increasingly upset because no reward money had come through. McKeever said he warned Kelly, "Hey, I could just go say to whoever . . . that you coerced me into saying certain things" about C.P. Direct. Within days, McKeever talked to Consoli's lawyer, claiming that Kelly had pressed him to "flat-out lie" in one allegation and to have other witnesses make overblown statements about fraud at C.P. Direct. McKeever's turnabout came just days before Consoli and Passafiume were to be sentenced. Defense attorney Ulises Ferragut asked Judge Ronald Reinstein of Maricopa County Superior Court to overturn the plea agreement and dismiss the charges. He said Kelly induced McKeever to "fabricate" allegations, and the two men engaged in a "conspiracy" to lie about C.P. Direct. As a result, he argued, the search warrant was tainted. He also complained that prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence, including the immunity deal and $1,600 payment. Based on plea papers, Reinstein rejected those arguments and sentenced both defendants to jail. But he also called for an independent investigation. Follow the money Maricopa County sheriff's detectives investigated and filed a 325-page report based on interviews with McKeever, Kelly and others. Their conclusion: "There is no evidence of misconduct by officer Dan Kelly." Consoli dismisses the sheriff's finding as an example of state law enforcement agents backing one another. He says the criminal charges were false but he was forced to sign a guilty plea under the threat of prison for himself and his aging mother. "We had no choice," he said. "If you had a gun to your head, would you agree?" Today, a substantial chunk of the $77.6 million is gone, spent on debts, legal fees and the receivership. Warfield is in the process of issuing about $4 million in consumer refunds. Just last month, a Superior Court judge transferred C.P. Direct's former headquarters in Scottsdale to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Warfield hopes to settle everything by year's end. Under Arizona statutes, what's left of the racketeering proceeds would go to law enforcement agencies. But Consoli has other ideas. "I'm not letting the crumbs get away with this," he said. "They broke the law to get our assets." Meanwhile, Passafiume was arrested and released on bond last month for probation violations, including a charge that he had resumed doing business in the state. Reach the reporter at dennis.wagner@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8874.