The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Carol Capoccia, 55, of Guilderland, New York, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Brattleboro to a charge that she obstructed a federal grand jury investigation. U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha released Ms. Capoccia on conditions pending sentencing, which has been set for April 27.

In March 2003, a federal grand jury in Vermont indicted Carol Capoccia, her husband Andrew Capoccia and five other defendants on criminal charges stemming from the investigation of the Law Centers for Consumer Protection and related debt reduction businesses that commenced operations in Albany but moved to Vermont in 2000. The Law Centers went bankrupt in January 2003 owing thousands of former clients millions of dollars in pre-paid fees and other monies. The charges accused Andrew Capoccia and four other defendants with misappropriating the missing funds. The indictment did not charge Carol Capoccia with crimes in relation to the operations of the Law Centers, but did accuse her of attempting to obstruct the criminal investigation by having a housekeeper remove documents during a court-ordered search of her home by law enforcement authorities, and by dissipating money from a bank account that the court had ordered frozen.

During pre-trial proceedings in Vermont, the charges against Carol Capoccia were dropped without prejudice to renewal. Eventually, all defendants charged with the fraud upon the Law Centers, including Andrew Capoccia, either pleaded guilty or were convicted after trial. In June 2006, a federal grand jury in Albany, New York filed a new indictment against Ms. Capoccia which included the original charges prosecuted in Vermont as well as one additional count of structuring cash transactions to avoid causing a bank to file a currency transaction report.

In today's guilty plea, Ms. Capoccia admitted that she had her housekeeper smuggle financial records out of her house during a court-ordered search that took place on March 19, 2002. As a result of that conduct, those records were never made available to the grand jury.

As part of her plea, Ms. Capoccia agreed not to contest the forfeiture of about three million dollars worth of property that the Government seized from her in 2002 as part of the Law Centers investigation.

In exchange for Ms. Capoccia's plea in Vermont, the United States has agreed to dismiss the indictment that was returned in Albany last summer.

Capoccia faces up to ten years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. The actual sentence will be determined with reference to federal sentencing guidelines.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Burlington, Vermont Resident Agency of the Albany Division, the New York State Attorney General's Office and the New York State Police.

Carol Capoccia is represented by E. Stewart Jones of Troy, New York. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory Waples and James Gelber.