The saga of the New York-based Vanguard Funding’s embezzlement scheme isn’t over just yet.
On Tuesday, former President of Sales Edward Bohm became the third exec to admit his role in the crime, pleading guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and bank fraud in connection with a scheme to embezzle $8.9 million in warehouse loans that were supposed to fund mortgage loans.
In December, former Chief Financial Officer Edward Sypher, Jr. and former Chief Operating Officer Matthew Voss were sentenced to 18 and 24 months in prison, respectively, and ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty to the same charges now levied against Bohm.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Bohm, Sypher and Voss obtained warehouse lines of credit for Vanguard from various lenders – including Santander Bank, Bankunited, and Northpointe Bank – by falsely stating that the proceeds would be used to fund mortgages or refinance mortgage loans.
But instead, Bohm and the others diverted the funds to pay personal expenses and compensation, and to pay off loans they had obtained previously with fraudulent loan submissions for improper purposes.
The complaint alleges that an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation recorded Bohm and Sypher discussing the scheme.
In one recording, Bohm said that the trio would avoid criminal charges because the targets of their scheme were lenders, not the public. “At the end of the day, the s— we did wasn't to the public,” Bohm is alleged to have said in the recording.
Bohm – who was an undisclosed owner of Vanguard Funding – faces up 30 years in prison for his role in the scheme, although he may likely receive a sentence similar to his co-conspirators, who also faced up to 30 years.
Vanguard was a 33-branch, mortgage lending operation licensed in California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.
