Scammer dubbed the 'real life Talented Mr. Ripley' who used $1.1million to fund his luxury lifestyle of fast cars, a 12,000sqf home and piloting hobby is unmasked

A scammer who spent years duping people and stealing $1.1million in COVID funds to support his luxury lifestyle has been identified as he faces prison for his crimes. 

Joey Cipolla drove a Lamborghini and a Bentley that frequently sat in the driveway of his 12,000sqf mansion in Bloomingdale, Illinois, an affluent area outside Chicago. 

He had his own Cessna plane, which he was able to pilot, and was known for gambling thousands of dollars at a clip in casinos.

Rather than a legitimate businessman, Cipolla was an out-and-out fraudster and a conman for his entire adult life. He previously pleaded guilty to stiffing people on luxury auto-sales on eBay and using COVID funds to buy his home.

Now, federal prosecutors want to see him locked up for 10 years as they lay out their case for sentencing. 

'He’s like a Talented Mr. Ripley,' Chicago restaurateur and victim Dion Antic told the Chicago Tribune. 'He’s an arch criminal, and it’s been going on like this for years.'

A scammer who spent years duping people and stealing $1million in COVID funds to support his luxury lifestyle has been identified as Joey Cipolla

Cipolla faces sentencing for several schemes including fraudulently selling cars on eBay and taking $1million in COVID funds to support his lifestyle

Cipolla flaunted his lifestyle on social media. Now, prosecutors want him locked up for a decade for his con game

Antic was referring to the 1999 movie about a con artist as he talked about Cipolla who once gave him a fake $35,000 check for a used Corvette.

Three years ago, Antic started a Facebook account called 'Conned by Joey Cipolla' as an outlet for his frustration that now has more than 100 followers. He and other victims of Cipolla have since formed lasting bonds over their shared experiences.

The people who are part of Antic's conned community say Cipolla's sentence is only a fraction of what he deserves to be held accountable for.

In November, Cipolla pleaded guilty to his crimes. Prosecutors want him locked up for a decade. His defense is arguing for a seven-year sentence.

'It was a lifestyle, fueled by unbridled avarice,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Chapman wrote in a recent filing with the court. 'There is no sound reason to believe that Cipolla, once released, will abjure his life of fraud and walk a lawful path to acquire the necessities of life.'

According to his defense lawyer, Cipolla has sobered up in jail awaiting trial and wants to turn his life around.

Cipolla's five-bedroom, nine-bathroom home in Bloomingdale, Illinois, an affluent suburb of Chicago

Cippola showing off a plane and a Ferrari on his Instagram

Cipolla's criminal history and accusations against him are lengthy. 

In November, Cipolla pleaded guilty to his crimes. Prosecutors want him locked up for a decade. His defense is arguing for a seven year sentence. 

In November, Cipolla pleaded guilty to his crimes. Prosecutors want him locked up for a decade. His defense is arguing for a sevenyear sentence. 

The most serious incident remains shrouded in mystery happened in 2017, when Jeffery Charles Fox, 46, of Evanston, died falling 39 stories from the balcony of Cipolla's Chicago apartment in a luxury building a heartbeat away from Lake Michigan.

Fox had been accused two years earlier of assaulting a woman who is now Cipolla's wife. 

Cipolla was not charged with any wrongdoing in that case. Fox's death was ruled an accident by the Cook County medical examiner's office.

By 2008, Cipolla had 15 convictions in four states, mostly for writing bad checks to buy vehicles.  After serving time in Illinois and Michigan, he was paroled in 2010 and by 2014, the court was no longer supervising his release.

'By no later than 2016, he had returned to the relatively lower-paying grift of defrauding people on individual vehicle sales,' U.S. Attorney Chapman wrote in a filing. 

Chapman added Cipolla forged paperwork to get an FAA pilot's license, then   his schemes focused on aircraft sales and rentals. 

He set up companies, including one that kept planes at hangers in the DuPage County Airport, outside Chicago.

Cipolla also ran a car business on eBay. He admitted to screwing over customers by illegally rolling back the mileage on exotic vehicles he was selling. 

At times, he even accepted payment for vehicles he never possessed while also unloading cars that were in much worse condition than listed. 

These airplane and car business allowed Cipolla to apply for more than $1.35 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans, which were introduced during the pandemic to help business owners struggling through lockdowns.

Cipolla posted piles o money on his social media accounts

Cipolla's guilty plea stated that $1.18 million was actually given through the program, and he said he used the lion's share of that money to buy his five-bedroom, nine-bathroom home in Bloomingdale.

The home sold for $1.3 million in July 2020, according to an FBI search warrant.

He also spent the money on Louis Vuitton goods and jewelry. 

The scams eventually caught up with Cipolla when he was indicted on federal tax charges in April 2022.

Prosecutors wanted Cipolla held in custody because of his history of fleeing from law enforcement, something he tried to do in July 2021 when federal agents raided his home.

Cipolla 'attempted to evade the officers by retreating to the roof of his own residence, which required law enforcement officers to talk him off of the roof for Cipolla's and the officers' safety,' prosecutors wrote in a motion to deny him bond.

Weeks before his indictment in April 2022, Cipolla was stopped for speeding and told officers he thought federal agents were following him.  Cipolla later admitted he had used cocaine shortly before the traffic stop, the Tribune reported. 

A screenshot from a bizarre video where Cipolla is seen setting up a male acquaintance of his with a transgender woman on a hookup, only for the acquaintance to reject the woman at the last second to make fun of her. Cipolla and the other man laugh in the car about it after the fact

Cipolla was hit with a superseding indictment in fall 2022, and was ordered by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly on November 29 of that year to turn himself in to federal marshals that day, according to court records.

Sure enough, just like prosecutors warned, agents who were tailing him saw Cipolla get into a vehicle with no license plates and try to flee. 

Once he was apprehended, he was taken to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, where he's been held without bond ever since.

The court heard from Cipolla on Tuesday through a letter he wrote as he apologized for his 'downright greedy and selfish behavior.'

'I was selling cars and telling people what they wanted to hear just to make a sale,' Cipolla wrote. 'I am sorry to anybody that lost money, and I mean that sincerely.'