Mortgage lender exec sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment for fraud over $8M

Misappropriated money obtained to allegedly fund mortgage loans

August 31, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

The U.S. Eastern District Courthouse in Central Islip, Long Island. Wikimedia photo by Americasroof

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On Tuesday at federal court in Central Islip, the former president of sales and co-owner of mortgage lender Vanguard Funding LLC (Vanguard) was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert to 24 months’ imprisonment in connection to more than $8.9 million acquired in fraudulent warehouse loans.

Vanguard had reportedly used the funds for home mortgages and mortgage refinancing. Instead, Edward E. Bohm and other conspirators diverted the funds for personal use and compensation, according to the Eastern District of New York.

Bohm and others also used the funds to pay off loans they previously acquired through false loan applications in their cycle-like scheme. Bohm is the third defendant sentenced in connection to the misappropriated loans.

On Feb. 6, 2019, Vanguard Senior Vice President and CFO Edward J. Sypher Jr. was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment and was ordered to pay a restitution of $3,488,615.42 following his conviction of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud charges.

On Feb. 26, 2019, Vanguard COO Matthew T. Voss was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment also on conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud charges and mandated to pay the same $3,488,615.42 restitution.

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, along with Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI New York Field Office, and Adrienne A. Harris, the Superintendent of the NYS Department of Financial Services (DFS), announced the sentence.

“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. 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,” said U.S. Attorney Peace on Tuesday.

“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.”

“Edward Bohm and his associates at Vanguard Funding defrauded the financial institutions that provide critical residential mortgage funding, helping themselves to the short-term loans they falsely claimed were on behalf of consumers,” said DFS Superintendent Harris.

“As New York’s financial services regulator, I am proud of DFS’s mortgage banking examiners and criminal investigators who assisted in the investigation that brought Bohm to justice, and who will continue to root out fraud on behalf of all New Yorkers.”