Giovanni Pennetta

What the public record shows

Giovanni Pennetta, a New York-based investment adviser, pleaded guilty on March 5, 2026 to one count of wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York — United States v. Pennetta, No. 25-cr-577 — and was sentenced in June 2026 to 4 years in prison, with $11,928,266.25 in restitution and $12,546,279.86 in forfeiture. This is a criminal conviction — not an allegation.

In a parallel civil case, the SEC filed settled fraud charges against him on June 22, 2026 (Litigation Release No. 26572). Pennetta consented to a judgment — subject to court approval — that would permanently enjoin him from violating the charged securities laws and bar him from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security other than for his own personal account.

The scheme, per the SEC’s complaint

• From February 2021 through December 2025, Pennetta solicited at least six investors who wanted exposure to a private company’s stock, raising more than $10.5 million into his fund NextGenTech Investments LLC, managed through the exempt reporting adviser Sestante Capital LLC.
• The complaint alleges he told investors he or his companies owned or had access to the private company’s shares — when in fact neither he nor his companies ever held or had access to those shares, and none of the investor money was used to buy them.

The criminal conviction covers the same conduct.

Why we rate this 1 / 10 — Avoid

A federal guilty plea for defrauding investors, plus a consented SEC injunction and securities bar, is a fully adjudicated record. The “exclusive access to pre-IPO shares” pitch is one of the most common — and most effective — investment-fraud hooks of the last five years.

Verify it yourself

• SEC Litigation Release 26572 — linked in Sources.
• PACER / CourtListener — both the SDNY criminal docket (25-cr-577) and the SEC’s civil case (26-civ-05209).

Bottom line

Convicted by guilty plea and barred by consent. If someone claims special access to pre-IPO shares, demand proof of ownership and custody — or walk away.

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