Sentencing delayed for former Oakes Farms exec working with feds

The sentencing date for Steven Veneziano, the former Oakes Farms executive who pled guilty to COVID fraud last year and is working with federal authorities in an ongoing investigation, has been pushed back.

Veneziano was set to be sentenced March 23 but a judge has rescheduled the sentencing hearing until July 27.

The decision to move the date back was made after Veneziano and federal prosecutors filed a joint motion asking for the delay.

“The parties,” according to the motion, “believe that additional information that the court should consider at the time of Mr. Veneziano’s sentencing has not been, and will not be, fully developed by the currently scheduled sentencing date.”

What that information is was not disclosed.

This is the second time Veneziano’s sentencing has been delayed. Before the March 23 date was set, he was scheduled for a Nov. 17 hearing.

Veneziano, who currently lives in California, pleaded guilty last year to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges stemmed from a case involving a $5.18 million fraud against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Coronavirus Food and Assistance Program.

Each count carries a potential 20 years prison sentence.

Veneziano is cooperating with authorities who continue to investigate.

Oakes Farms is a local agribusiness with just under 3,000 acres of farmland in Collier County, where it grows fruits and vegetables. It also owns the popular Seed-to-Table farm market on Immokalee Road in Naples.

The entities are owned by local businessman and political provocateur Alfie Oakes.

In addition to the federal criminal case, Oakes Farm is suing Veneziano, alleging he stole $12.5 million in funds, equipment and assets.

Both the company and Veneziano were ordered to mediation in late February. But a federal magistrate last week wrote that they’d failed to find a mediator by a March 5 deadline.

Magistrate Judge Nicholas P. Mizell writes that they have until Friday, March 13, to either notify the court a mediator is in place or “show cause why they should not be sanctioned for noncompliance.”