Antonio Gastelum, a former Parlier city manager and Fresno City Council candidate, is headed to federal prison for two years.

U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd handed down Gastelum’s sentence on Thursday.

The architect of the scheme, Marcus Asay, 69, of Fresno, received a five-year sentence.

Asay and Gastellum, 53, also of Fresno, were convicted in June 2024 for running a pension fraud scheme through their company, American Labor Alliance. The company was fined $2.5 million as well. The pair received enhanced sentences because they testified in their defense at trial and were found to have perjured themselves.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced the sentences in a news release.

Asay Spends Pension Funds on Personal Expenses

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Asay was the founder and chairman of ALA, and Gastelum was the company’s top operations, finance, and compliance executive. From 2011 through 2019, the defendants offered three sham products: retirement plan, worker’s compensation coverage, and hardship exemption.

In addition to his fraud conviction, Asay was convicted of money laundering because he moved pension funds through multiple bank accounts before using them for improper expenses. The expenses included dining out, travel, buying rare coins, transfers to Asay’s retirement account, and rent on his lakeside house in Fresno.

Asay and Gastelum deceived more than 3,000 people from 2011 to 2019, prosecutors said.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Tierney, Joseph Barton, and Stephanie Stokman prosecuted the case.

Gastelum’s Failed Political Run

Gastelum ran for Fresno’s District 5 seat representing southeast neighborhoods in November 2016. He finished third with 17% of the vote behind winner Luis Chavez and runner-up Jose Leon Barraza.

The city of Parlier later hired Gastelum as city manager — a position he retained while under federal indictment until November 2020.