Ex-Synergy CEO gets 5-1/4 years in prison for massive fraud
10/03/2016 23:46
By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - A former chief executive of
bankrupt food company Synergy Brands Inc SYBRQ.PK was
sentenced to 5-1/4 years in prison on Thursday for running a
check fraud scheme through U.S. and Canadian banks that caused
one institution to lose $26 million.
Mair Faibish, 55, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eric
Vitaliano in Brooklyn, New York, after being found guilty in
2014 on charges including bank fraud and conspiracy to commit
bank and securities fraud, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors accused Faibish and co-conspirators of a
check-kiting scheme to funnel $1.3 billion in checks backed by
insufficient funds through banks.
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said Faibish "played
fast and loose with the truth and with federally insured money,
kiting checks back and forth across the Canadian border to
defraud auditors, banks, and investors."
Prosecutors also said Faibish, of Huntington Station, New
York, caused Synergy to file false statements with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission about Synergy's financial
condition for the second quarter of 2008.
Prosecutors had sought up to the maximum of 80 years in
prison.
Bradley Simon, Faibish's lawyer, said he was pleased with
the sentence, saying the judge showed "real common sense and
fairness" in rejecting the longer period of incarceration sought
by prosecutors.
Synergy, a publicly-traded food products company, was
delisted from the Nasdaq in December 2008, and filed for Chapter
7 bankruptcy in January 2011.
According to prosecutors, the check fraud was operated on
behalf of Synergy.
Banks would make funds from the bad checks available,
enabling Faibish and others to write more checks, which were
then transferred to other companies. Signature Bank lost $26
million, prosecutors said.
The case is U.S. v. Faibish, U.S. District Court, Eastern
District of New York, No. 12-cr-265.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by David
Gregorio)
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646-223-6752; Reuters Messaging:
nate.raymond.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: USA SYNERGY BRAND/CRIME