Archive
Subscribe Place Ad Buy Trib Photos Readers' Choice Contests
Jobs Homes Autos Classifieds
Trib Total Media Contact Us
ShareThis Page
Mon Valley Independent co-owner pleads guilty to defrauding dementia patient | TribLIVE.com
Westmoreland

Mon Valley Independent co-owner pleads guilty to defrauding dementia patient

Renatta Signorini
Renatta Signorini | Monday, October 16, 2017 11:27 a.m
webcourts

A Fayette County man and former Charleroi attorney pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to defrauding a dementia patient and directing some of the $505,000 into accounts for the Mon Valley Independent newspaper.

Keith A. Bassi, 61, admitted to misappropriating money belonging to the patient’s estate as power of attorney since 2013, according to a news release from acting U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song.

Federal authorities said Bassi diverted the money into bank accounts he created and controlled at two banks. Authorities alleged that Bassi kept money he used to establish a life insurance policy for someone other than the victim and directed deposits to accounts for Mid Mon Valley Publishing, a company he and three other men formed in 2015.

In April 2016, Trib Total Media sold the former Valley Independent to Mid Mon Valley Publishing, which changed the paper’s name.

Bassi’s license to practice law was temporarily suspended in August at the request of the U.S. District Court, documents show. A brief article that ran in the Independent Aug. 17 said Bassi had “retired” before his suspension took effect.

Bassi’s sentencing on three counts of mail fraud is set for March 14. He faces up to 60 years in prison, a $750,000 fine or both, according to a news release.

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@tribweb.com or via Twitter @byrenatta.

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff reporter. You can contact Renatta at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Westmoreland
TribLIVE commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.