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Long Island resident Edward E. Bohm, age 44, of Smithtown, formerly the president of Sales and part-owner of mortgage lender Vanguard Funding, LLC, based in Garden City, was sentenced on Tuesday, Aug. 30 at the federal courthouse in Central Islip to two years in prison.
Bohm was also ordered to pay $3,488,615.42 in restitution and $1,500,000 in criminal forfeiture.
In February 2019, Bohm pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire and bank fraud.
“With today’s sentence, Edward Bohm has been deservedly punished for his role in a fraudulent scheme that deceived banks that trusted and relied upon him as a business partner," Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement after the sentencing. "Bohm diverted the loan proceeds to, among other things, pay tens of thousands of dollars in monthly personal credit card expenses and finance the luxury house in which he lived.
“This office, together with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who commit fraud to advance their own financial interests at the expense of businesses and residents of our district.”
According to the criminal complaint in the case:
- Between August 2015 and March 2017, Bohm and his co-conspirators at Vanguard engaged in a scheme in which they obtained more than $8.9 million in short-term loans, referred to as warehouse loans, by falsely representing that the loan proceeds would fund specific mortgages, or refinance specific mortgages, for Vanguard clients.
- Instead, Bohm and his coconspirators diverted the funds to pay personal expenses and compensation, and to pay off loans they had previously obtained through false loan applications.
Bohm is the third defendant to be sentenced in connection with the scheme:
- On Feb. 6, 2019, Vanguard Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Edward J. Sypher, Jr., was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment and restitution in the amount of $3,488,615.42 following his conviction on conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud charges.
- On Feb. 26, 2019, Vanguard Chief Operating Officer Matthew T. Voss was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment and $3,488,615.42 restitution following his conviction on conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud charges.
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