24 Mar Former insurance broker receives 9-year prison term
A New York insurance broker from Albany has been sentenced for his role in a $1 million securities fraud case. The man entered guilty pleas to securities fraud, failing to file state income tax returns and grand larceny. He was sentenced to serve nine years in prison.
According to prosecutors, the man reportedly solicited more than $1 million from investors by promising high returns on their investments in the Saratoga Cheese Company. Instead of investing their money, the man allegedly diverted more than $600,000 to himself. The New York Attorney General’s office stated that the man perpetrated the fraud from 2006 until 2012.
Prosecutors alleged that the man set up a number of corporate entities and then used them as if they were personal bank accounts, writing checks payable to him. He was also accused of making numerous ATM withdrawals in Costa Rica as well as in Albany. In addition to his prison sentence, the man was ordered to pay restitution to his victims.
People may want to retain criminal defense attorneys as soon as they learn that they are the subjects of white collar crime investigations. Experienced attorneys are sometimes able to negotiate with the prosecutors before charges are ever filed in order to secure agreements to pay restitution. If charges are filed, the attorneys may try to secure plea agreements to capped sentence lengths or alternatives to prison. They may also build strong defenses in the case that their clients’ matters are unable to be resolved prior to jury trials. Attorneys may be able to keep some damaging evidence out of the trials by filing motions.
Source: US News, “Albany insurance broker sentenced in $1 million fraud scheme“, March 16, 2017