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LI execs plead guilty to $8.9M fraud scheme

Adina Genn //February 15, 2018 //

Central Islip Courthouse

Central Islip Courthouse

LI execs plead guilty to $8.9M fraud scheme

Adina Genn //February 15, 2018 //

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Two Long Island mortgage lenders pleaded guilty in federal court in Central Islip Thursday to conspiring to commit wire and bank fraud, officials said.

Matthew Voss of Northport and Edward Sypher, Jr., of Scarsdale, both executives at Vanguard, could face up to 20 years in prison each for their role in diverting more than $8.9 million of short-term loans that the firm had to fund mortages, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Between August 2016 and March 2017, Voss, who served as Vanguard’s chief operating officer and Sypher, the firm’s chief financial officer, participated in a scheme in which they obtained short-term loans for Vanguard by “falsely representing that Vanguard would use the proceeds of those loans to fund mortgages refinancing for Vanguard’s clients,” according to a Justice Department press release.

But the pair used the money to pay for personal expenses and compensations, and to pay off loans they had secured earlier with” fraudulent loan submission for improper purposes,” according to the press release.

The pleas were announced by U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard Donoghue, Assistant Director-in-Charge of Federal Bureau of Investigation New York’s Field Office William Sweeney, Jr., and, Superintendent of New York State Department of Financial Services Maria Vullo.

In addition to prison, when sentenced Voss and Sypher also face restitution, criminal forfeiture and a fine.