Frank Constantino Convicted Of Racketeering-Related Charges In Georgia Securities Fraud Case With Ties To Belize; Victim In $2.7 Million Scheme Was 83-Year-Old Woman

A Georgia man potentially faces decades in prison after being convicted yesterday of racketeering-related charges.

Frank Constantino, 65, of Marietta, was a recidivist securities offender previously disciplined in Missouri for a Bahamas-based scheme and also linked to a scheme in Belize, officials said. He now faces up to 95 years in prison after his conviction on charges of fleecing an elderly woman in a $2.7 million scheme.

Constantino was convicted of violating the Georgia Securities Act, theft and exploitation of an elderly person. Records show he first clashed with Georgia securities regulators in 1997, in a case that featured allegations that he claimed investments in a candy company were guaranteed against loss.

Prosecutors said Constantino had a history of creating shell companies such as Atrium Secure Annuity, Atrium Global Partners and Atrium Investment Partners to fleece investors.

Now facing up to 95 years in prison, Constantino already has been in the Cobb County jail for 349 days. He lost a Georgia Supreme Court battle in October in which he sought release pending trial, arguing he was in poor health and not a threat to flee.

Prosecutors argued he posed a “significant”  flight risk because “he did not own any assets in this country, he owned assets in Belize and Nicaragua, and he traveled to Belize on a regular basis.”

In rejecting Constantino’s bid to be released pending trial, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court ruling that Constantino “posed a significant risk to flee” in part because of an alleged history of funneling “significant amounts of money to investments in Belize.”