A 35-year-old Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty Friday in St. Paul to defrauding Richfield-based Best Buy Co. out of more than $900,000 in a billing scheme.
Joseph Anthony Graziola III, of Glenmills, Pa., admitted that from December 2004 through December 2005 he submitted fraudulent invoices to Best Buy for the shipment of electronics equipment that was never sent.
Graziola also has pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in an unrelated fraud scheme. In that case, Graziola admitted to defrauding more than 250 customers of a credit-repair business called Bad Credit B Gone out of more than $120,000 in fees.
The purported law firm promised it would erase unfavorable items from customers' credit reports, but Graziola employed no attorneys and the firm failed to perform, the government says.
Graziola faces up to 20 years in prison on each of five counts of mail fraud, two in the Minnesota case and three in the Pennsylvania case.
DAN BROWNING
