Nicholas Del Franco

Introduction

Nicholas Del Franco, a 39-year-old man from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, also known as “Nicholas Thomas,” was arrested on November 4, 2026, after a federal indictment was unsealed charging him with seven counts of wire fraud for running overlapping advance-fee and prepaid-interest fraud schemes that allegedly stole more than $5 million from borrowers. Del Franco, the owner and operator of purported financial services companies in New York and California — Quattro Capital LLC and Ares 2811 Corporation — was arrested in the morning and arraigned that afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, on Long Island. Prosecutors say more than a dozen victims — businesses, real estate developers, and individuals searching for financing — paid him upfront fees for loans that never existed.

Background Information

Advance-fee fraud is built on the gap between what a borrower wants and what a broker can actually deliver. According to the indictment and other court filings, Del Franco positioned himself from approximately November 2023 to the present as a legitimate loan broker with access to substantial funding sources and lines of credit, including banks and private lenders, and purported to offer prospective borrowers multi-million-dollar loans with highly attractive terms for construction, real estate development, and business expansion. The two companies he controlled gave the operation its front: Quattro Capital LLC and Ares 2811 Corporation presented the appearance of a functioning financial-services business spanning New York and California. The victims who came to him — developers with projects to build, businesses needing expansion capital, individuals seeking financing — were, prosecutors allege, paying for access to money that was never on the other end of the wire.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not convicted. Del Franco faces seven wire fraud counts in an unsealed indictment; the charges are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The indictment lays out three overlapping schemes, each ending the same way: upfront money in, no loan out. In the first, a line-of-credit advance fee scheme, Del Franco falsely claimed to have access to a $100 million line of credit from a financial institution insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to which prospective borrowers would be given full access in exchange for an upfront escrow payment of $5 million. In the second, a “family office” funding prepaid interest scheme, he falsely claimed to represent a wealthy family whose “family office” was seeking to extend multi-million-dollar loans for construction and infrastructure projects, but required borrowers to make an upfront payment of a percentage of the full loan amount as prepaid interest. In the third, a private investors prepaid interest scheme, he falsely asserted that he represented several wealthy private investors seeking to fund multi-million-dollar loans on the same terms. In each scheme, prosecutors allege, Del Franco fraudulently induced victims to pay him money purported to be advance fees or prepaid interest before receiving the promised loan — and after the borrowers paid, the loans and access to lines of credit never materialized. Instead, Del Franco stole the money for himself.

In total, the indictment alleges Del Franco defrauded over a dozen prospective borrowers of more than $5 million across the schemes. United States Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. of the Eastern District of New York said, “As alleged, Del Franco engaged in years-long overlapping schemes designed to steal millions of dollars from borrowers who believed they were paying required fees and upfront interest to secure loans,” adding, “Now that his repeated lies are exposed, Del Franco will be held accountable for his egregious conduct, and his victims will see some measure of justice.” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said, “Borrowers deserve transparency and honesty when entering into loan agreements, not deception and fraud. Nicholas Del Franco allegedly exploited the lending process for personal gain, and the FBI will continue to investigate those who seek to undermine our financial system.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The charges were announced jointly by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the FBI’s New York Field Office, and the government moved quickly on the same day the indictment was unsealed — arrest in the morning, arraignment before Judge Shields in the afternoon, and a public outreach appeal asking anyone who might have been victimized to call the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI. The appeal itself signals that prosecutors believe the victim pool is larger than the dozen already identified. Each of the seven wire fraud counts carries a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment if Del Franco is convicted, an exposure that spans 140 years across the indictment even before fines and restitution enter the picture.

Current Status

Del Franco has been charged but not tried: the indictment against him is an accusation, and under the government’s own formulation he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. He was arraigned before Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields in Central Islip on November 4, 2026, with a detention memorandum and the underlying indictment filed on the public docket, case number 26-CR-305 (AYS). The government’s case is being handled by the Criminal Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York’s Long Island Division, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael R. Maffei in charge of the prosecution. Sentencing exposure, trial scheduling, and any plea will be resolved in that court in the months ahead.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Del Franco’s career as a loan broker is effectively the thing on trial: the indictment charges not a single bad deal but the brokerage persona itself — the claimed funding sources, the claimed family-office connections, the claimed private investors — as a fraud operated through his two companies. If he is convicted, Quattro Capital LLC and Ares 2811 Corporation become the named instruments of a seven-count wire fraud scheme, and a 39-year-old who presented himself as a connector of multi-million-dollar capital faces a sentencing range measured in decades. For the borrowers who paid upfront fees for construction loans, development financing, and business expansion capital that never arrived, the indictment is the first formal acknowledgment that the money they wired into escrow and prepaid-interest payments is alleged to have gone straight into Del Franco’s own pocket.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, “Purported Loan Broker Indicted for Advance Fee and Prepaid Interest Fraud Schemes,” November 4, 2026. source