WOODLAND HILLS—A former musical director for “The Aresnio Hall Show” pled guilty in court on Wednesday, September 25, for embezzling $750,000 from a homeless children’s charity. Robin DiMaggio, 48, of Woodland Hills faces up to 20 years in prison for a wire fraud charge which is a felony offense.
According to the Department of Justice United States Attorney’s Office, the charity is the non-profit organization Peace For You Peace For Me, which is a foundation based out of Bulgaria. According to the complaint filed, DiMaggio told the organization that he would help set up a charity concert to help raise money for displaced children from war zones in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia.
During this process, the organization wired $750,000 to DiMaggio on August 5, 2016 to ensure future payments for artists performing at the charity concert. Prior to the transfer of money, DiMaggio promised to hold the funds in an escrow account to pay the artists for their performances at the charity concert.
According to court documents, DiMaggio never opened the escrow account and deposited the funds into his personal bank account. Allegedly the funds were used to pay for cars, given to family members, to pay off credit cards and other living expenses. He bought both his mother and son each a car that totaling $59,000.
Within weeks of the wire transfer, DiMaggio used $251,370 of it to purchase a home in Calabasas for his ex-wife. He also allegedly wired $150,000 to a bank account in the name of his company, DiMagic Entertainment Inc. According to prosecutors, none of the funds ever went to artists or their management for the charity concert.
DiMaggio is also a professional drummer and percussionist who worked with Paul Simon, Diana Ross, Tupac, Jackson Brown, David Bowie, Dr. Dre and others. He also worked on The CW game show “Oh Sit” and TBS’ “Lopez Tonight” hosted by George Lopez, and served as the Musical Director for the United Nations.
DiMaggio filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and during his September 2017 bankruptcy filing. He denied any misuse of the money wired to him by the charity foundation. During the deposition hearing, the defendant admitted to purchasing the Calabasas home for his ex-wife as a partial settlement for spousal support.
The scheduled sentencing for DiMaggio is set for March 4, 2020, which will be heard by U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee.
Written By Christanne McCormick, Brenda De La Cruz and Anita Brown
