Problem:
List the elements of the Fraud Triangle, and use this case to provide examples of each element.
"Someone's Going Straight to Hell"
Robert Riggio, 52, of Toms River, New Jersey, spent most of his life as a con man, ripping off gullible people for small sums of money here and there. But this time, he may have ripped off the wrong guy. He admitted to taking $1.4 million in church money by falsely promising he would invest it, but then lost it all gambling.
It all started in October of 1996 when Riggio approached Msgr. Frederick Valentino, pastor of St. Bonaventure Church, and pretended to be a new parishioner who was $20,000 in debt to loan sharks. After the church paid off his debt, Riggio told the priest it would be difficult to repay the money, but out of gratitude, he would get the church a great investment through a friend. The priest continued to send Riggio money until last December, when Valentino tried to withdraw $30,000 in cash from a parish account.
Riggio was eventually caught and claims he lost the money at Atlantic City casinos and at racetracks in New York.