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NEWS RELEASE |
Contact: Alicia Maxey Greene |
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Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau today announced the indictment and arrest of a building management agent for stealing over $1.3 million from the operating accounts of six clients. The defendant, MARK MODANO, 50, has been indicted on charges of scheme to defraud and grand larceny. The crimes charged in the indictment occurred between November 27, 2003 and November 30, 2008. MODANO operated Mark Modano LLC, a property management company formerly located at 115 East 60th Street and 325 West 38th Street. MODANO’s responsibilities included collection of rent, payment of building expenses, renovation of vacated apartments, payment of building property taxes, and oversight of building maintenance and repairs. The investigation leading to the indictment revealed that MODANO continuously mingled his clients’ money into large “master” accounts. MODANO slowly misappropriated his clients’ money, via his master accounts, for his own personal expenses. Whenever a potential shortfall occurred with respect to one of his client’s expenses, he simply used money from one of his other clients to make good on the outstanding expense and continue to conceal his crime. The victims most affected by MODANO’s misconduct were those who entrusted him with the payment of their property taxes. In approximately 2006, and again in 2008, without informing his clients, MODANO entered into in rem installment agreements with the City’s Department of Finance which enabled him to pay his clients’ property tax obligations on an installment basis while continuously accruing interest to the detriment of those clients. At the time in question, all tax-related correspondence was sent directly to MODANO; therefore, the owners of the buildings were unaware that they owed property taxes and that MODANO had entered into such agreements. MODANO distributed monthly financial statements, which purportedly accounted for all monthly income and disbursements, to the owners of each building. Most of MODANO’s clients had worked with him for several years and solely relied on these statements to keep updated on the finances of their buildings. In November and December of 2008, in an attempt to control the damage, MODANO caused an attorney to contact some of his clients. These clients were informed that, contrary to what MODANO’S monthly financial statements indicated, their building operating accounts were nearly empty. The loss with respect to each building ranged from $25, 219.20 to $634,978.04. In total, MODANO stole in excess of $1.3 million. MODANO has been indicted on three counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C Felony; three counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a class D felony; and one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class E felony. A class C felony is punishable by up to 5 to 15 years in prison, a class D felony is punishable by up to 2⅓ to 7 years in prison and a class E felony is punishable by up to 1⅓ to 4 years in prison. The defendant is scheduled to be arraigned today in State Supreme Court, Part 1. Assistant District Attorney Archana Rao, of the Special Prosecutions Bureau, is in charge of the prosecution under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Thomas Wornom, Chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau. Investigator Reginald Barometre, Investigator Jonathan Reid and Investigator Jonathan Savel of the District Attorney’s Office Investigation Bureau assisted in the investigation, under the supervision of Chief Investigator Joe Pennisi. Senior Account Investigator Mary Archa of the District Attorney’s Office Financial Crimes Bureau also assisted in the investigation, under the supervision of Frank Puma, Chief of the Financial Crimes Bureau and Michael Vecchio, Principal Accountant Investigator of the Financial Crimes Bureau. Defendant Information: MARK MODANO, 3/2/1959 ###
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