Dominick N. Donofrio, age 73 and last residing in Middlefield, was sentenced on April 28 by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 36 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for defrauding a client of more than $2.5 million.
The sentencing follows an investigation into Donofrio’s business practices as president and owner of Windstar Financial Services, Inc., based in Madison, Connecticut. The case highlights the risks associated with fraudulent business consulting activities and the importance of vigilance when engaging financial advisors.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Donofrio was hired by Wisconsin-based Randall Robert Binversie Holdings (Binversie) in January 2013 to provide business and financial consulting services related to purchasing a renewable fuel business. In early 2014, Donofrio informed Binversie about an opportunity to purchase Tioga Fuel, a home heating oil company in Philadelphia, along with its properties. He convinced Binversie that the purchase price was $2,050,567; however, he had fraudulently increased the price by about $1.3 million before completing the transaction.
Donofrio admitted that he defrauded Binversie out of more than $2.5 million through several methods: inflating the purchase price; charging over $987,000 in fraudulent consulting fees; stealing approximately $87,000 from Tioga Fuel’s account during acquisition; and obtaining around $136,000 as interest payments on a fictitious loan he claimed Windstar had provided during the deal.
A federal grand jury indicted Donofrio on July 30, 2019. He became a fugitive until his arrest on July 24, 2024 in Mystic after failing to appear at a pretrial conference scheduled for July 22, 2025. He was arrested again on December 3 later that year and has remained detained since then before pleading guilty on February 4 to one count of wire fraud.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted this investigation while Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Francis (District of Connecticut) and Anita Eve (Eastern District of Pennsylvania) prosecuted the case.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut prosecutes federal crimes and manages civil cases for the United States within Connecticut from offices located in New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport while employing about 68 assistant attorneys and nearly as many support staff members according to the official website.
