NEW YORK — A Florida businessman, who admitted that his fraud-busting business was actually a fraud itself, is now asking a judge to release him early from prison, saying he's at a higher risk for contracting the coronavirus.
David Correia is serving a one-year prison term. He made the request in court papers filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.
Correia was sentenced in February after pleading guilty to making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and conspiring to commit wire fraud. The plea came in connection with $2.3 million raised for the company that was supposed to protect investors in businesses from becoming fraud victims.
Correia said an incurable auto-immune disease makes him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. He is scheduled to be released in January from a federal prison camp in Butner, North Carolina. Prosecutors declined through a spokesperson to comment.
