A Connecticut financial consultant has admitted to his role in a $2.5 million fraud scheme.
Dominick N. Donofrio, 73, who last resided in Middlefield, pleaded guilty to wire fraud Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
Donofrio was the president and owner of Windstar Financial Services, Inc., based in Madison. Court records show that, in January 2013, Wisconsin-based Randall Robert Binversie Holdings was interested in purchasing a renewable fuel business and hired Donofrio to provide business and financial consulting services.
In early 2014, Donofrio told Binversie about the opportunity to purchase Tioga Fuel, a home heating oil company in Philadelphia and its properties. Donofrio allegedly told Binversie that the purchase price was $2,050,567, to which the company agreed. “In fact, Donofrio had fraudulently marked up the purchase price by approximately $1.3 million,” federal officials alleged.
As part of his guilty plea, Donofrio admitted to defrauding Binversie of more than $2.5 million.
“The loss amount includes the difference between the actual purchase price and the inflated purchase price of the Tioga properties; more than $987,000 in fraudulent consulting, negotiation, and legal fees Binversie paid in 2013 and 2014; approximately $87,000 that Donofrio stole from Tioga Fuel’s account during the acquisition; and approximately $136,000 that Donofrio obtained from Binversie as interest payments on a fictitious $1.25 million ‘loan,’ an amount that Donofrio represented to Binversie that Windstar had fronted during the acquisition,” according to federal officials
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania returned an indictment on July 30, 2019, charging Donofrio. Federal officials said he was a fugitive until his arrest on July 24, 2024, in Mystic. After he failed to appear for a pretrial conference in Philadelphia on July 22, 2025, he was again arrested on Dec. 3, 2025, and has remained detained since that date. The case was then transferred to the District of Connecticut for prosecution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Dooley scheduled Donofrio’s sentencing for April 29, at which time he faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and has been prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Francis of the District of Connecticut and Anita Eve of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.