Gioe’s Role and Actions

Gioe’s responsibilities, beginning in 2013, involved direct confrontation with delinquent borrowers under the direction of Par Funding’s founder, Joseph LaForte. Prosecutors detailed how gioe would demand immediate payments, threatening severe consequences for non-compliance, including violence.

• Unannounced visits were gioe’s standard practice.
• Gioe, described as tanned, tattooed, and muscle-bound, once stole a customer’s Rolex watch. This prompted the victim to text LaForte: Please call off the hounds … and by that I mean that animal you sent down here.
• In another instance, Gioe reportedly warned a borrower that his wife could become a widow if he failed to pay.

Disparities in Sentencing and Cooperation

Gioe’s sentence contrasts sharply with the 15-year term given to LaForte last month. This difference reflects Gioe’s more limited role and his cooperation with investigators after pleading guilty in 2022 to conspiracy and extortion-related charges.

He didn’t shy away from anything. He gave it to us clean and unvarnished.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Newcomer

Newcomer emphasized that Gioe provided ample facts about the threats he made while working for LaForte, which proved invaluable in building cases against other Par executives.

Gioe’s Remorse and Current Condition

During his sentencing, Gioe, using a wheelchair due to medical issues, presented a stark contrast to his former imposing figure. He expressed deep remorse to U.S.District Judge Mark Kearney, attributing his past actions to a drug addiction he has since overcome.

Turning to sobriety allowed me to express my remorse and feel my remorse.

Renato “Gino” Gioe

Kearney recommended Gioe serve his sentence in a low-security facility catering to inmates with medical needs. While acknowledging Gioe’s sobriety and cooperation, Kearney stressed that imprisonment was necessary due to Gioe’s significant role in Par’s illegal operations.

You were the threat — not because you actually hurt somebody, but because you’d be menacing enough that people would be scared.

U.S. District Judge Mark kearney

Par Funding’s Rise and Fall

Par Funding, based in Old City, Philadelphia, presented itself as a legitimate cash-advance lender, attracting investors with promises of high returns. The company raised approximately $500 million over eight years, offering what LaForte described as cash-advance loans to small businesses at high interest rates, promising yearly returns of 10% or more.

however, federal authorities exposed the business as a fraud, citing massive yearly deficits concealed through manipulated financial records, inadequate insurance coverage, and failure to disclose laforte’s prior conviction for financial crimes.

The scheme began to collapse in 2020 when Par funding could no longer pay investors their monthly dividends. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intervened, placing Par under the control of a court-appointed receiver, leading to federal prosecutors building a criminal case against the company’s leadership.

Gioe was the first defendant charged in the case, pleading guilty in 2022. his testimony was described by prosecutors as extensive, truthful, and credible against LaForte and his former associates.

(Gioe and his lawyers have consistently denied allegations of his association with New York’s Gambino crime family.)

LaForte Brothers and Other Executives

Joseph LaForte pleaded guilty in 2024 and received a 15-year prison sentence last month. His brother, James LaForte, a co-founder of Par Funding, was sentenced in March to more than 11 years in prison.

Sentencing for three other Par executives is scheduled for later this spring. A former accountant for the LaFortes, the only defendant who has not pleaded guilty