From left: Comptroller John Liu and McSam Hotel Group CEO Sam ChangJust as investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s office have been probing campaign contributions to Comptroller John Liu, the New York Post has found connections between at least $29,600 worth of donations and boutique hotelier Sam Chang.

Liu’s campaign has been under investigation, and fund-raiser Xing Wu Pan was arrested for allegedly using straw donors to hide contributions that exceeded the $4,950 limit mandated by city laws.

Records show Chang donated $800 July 1. One employee of the McSam Hotel Group donated $800 in June and six more employees of the McSam Hotel Group each donated $800 July 9. [more]

Brian MaddenBrian Madden, president and co-founder of title insurer Liberty Title Agency, was sentenced to 20 months in prison for misappropriating and embezzling escrow and other client funds from Liberty Title and two other insurance agencies he controlled, the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced today.

Beginning when the real estate market was crashing in 2008, Madden took about $2.2 million from Liberty Title. To support these withdrawals, Madden paid current client debts with new funds he collected from other clients. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

A construction manager for a Touro College development project has been arrested and charged on allegations that he accepted more than $2 million in kickbacks from a developer, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Lawrence Pesce, whom Touro hired to oversee its construction project, allegedly accepted payments from an unnamed developer in exchange for ensuring the developer would receive the Touro construction contract, prosecutors said. Pesce allegedly orchestrated a bogus bidding process for the project at 230 West 125th Street by colluding with the developer to overbid on the project and then provide phony submissions from fake construction firms that stated estimates exceeding the developer’s offer. The developer’s $10.9 million estimate was eventually accepted, and investigators said Pesce pocketed $1.8 million for his part in the scheme. During the two-year project, officials say Pesce pushed the developer to submit falsely inflated work invoices, from which he received additional cash. The developer in the scheme ultimately became an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, helping unravel the fraud. Pesce has been formally charged with one count of wire fraud. If convicted he could spend 30 years behind bars. TRD

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A construction manager for a Touro College development project has been arrested and charged on allegations that he accepted more than $2 million in kickbacks from a developer, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Lawrence Pesce, whom Touro hired to oversee its construction project, allegedly accepted payments from an unnamed developer in exchange for ensuring the developer would receive the Touro construction contract, prosecutors said. Pesce allegedly orchestrated a bogus bidding process for the project at 230 West 125th Street by colluding with the developer to overbid on the project and then provide phony submissions from fake construction firms that stated estimates exceeding the developer’s offer. The developer’s $10.9 million estimate was eventually accepted, and investigators said Pesce pocketed $1.8 million for his part in the scheme. During the two-year project, officials say Pesce pushed the developer to submit falsely inflated work invoices, from which he received additional cash. The developer in the scheme ultimately became an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, helping unravel the fraud. Pesce has been formally charged with one count of wire fraud. If convicted he could spend 30 years behind bars. TRD

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A New Jersey real estate developer served as a cooperating witness in a money laundering investigation that led to the arrest of three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and 39 other people today, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Sources identified the developer as Solomon Dwek, who was arrested in a separate case in 2006 for trying to defraud a bank of more than $50 million. (Dwek’s 2006 case is still pending.) Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra said that $3 million had been laundered through Dwek, son of Rabbi Isaac Dwek, over the past two years by rabbis from Syrian Jewish communities. Dwek also approached several Hudson County public officials in 2007 and offered money in exchange for assistance getting building approvals, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. [Star-Ledger] and [Post] [more]

Two participants in a foreclosure rescue scheme were each sentenced to
five years in prison yesterday, according to a press release from the
U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. From September 2004 through April
2005, Andrea Moore and Michael Irving encouraged homeowners facing
foreclosure to refinance their homes with larger mortgages by selling
their homes to straw buyers. The homeowners were promised that they
could remain in their homes and the titles would return to them within
a year. Moore, 55, directed the daily operations of the scheme, while
Irving, 44, was the recruiter. Moore and Irving primarily targeted
homeowners in the Bronx and Brooklyn. TRD [more]