A debonair Manhattan con man has taken a plea deal of up to nine years in prison for swindling smitten girlfriends out of thousands of dollars and ripping off a client in a construction project.
Mauricio Palomino, 45, admitted to stealing more than $80,000 combined from Staci Krell, Allison Goodman, Debra D’Aquino and Dina D’Angelo from 2012 to 2014, court records show.
He told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Ann Scherzer it took time for him to accept the offer his lawyer, David Touger, negotiated on his behalf.
“Obviously, him being Jewish and me being Italian, we argue a lot,” Palomino joked this month in court. “But we have come to a conclusion on what’s best for all parties.”
He pleaded guilty to seven counts of grand larceny on two indictments in exchange for three to nine years in prison.
He admitted racking up charges on four girlfriends’ credit cards and accepting cash loans on the promise that he would repay them, which he never did.
“When each victim caught on to his scheme, the personal or business relationship would end, and the defendant would quickly become involved with the next victim,” prosecutor Margot Gendreau said.
The lothario got his girlfriend at the time, Chrissy Oakes, to post his bail. She continued to show up with him in court until his bust last year on a new scam.
In that rip-off, Palomino falsely claimed to be a licensed contractor and presented himself as the CEO of Palomino and Associates, a firm specializing in high-end residential and business renovations.
A man paid Palomino $300,000 to renovate his Greenwich Village apartment, but the work was never done.
Prosecutors said the stolen money funded Palomino’s lavish lifestyle. He blew thousands of dollars on travel, fine dining and luxury shopping sprees, court records say.