Teacher
Professional
- Messages
- 2,669
- Reaction score
- 819
- Points
- 113
Last Thursday, February 8, for the third time in three decades known to me, a press release in Russian appeared on the website of the US Federal Prosecutor's Office.
It was the Prosecutor's Office for the Eastern District of New York, which also owned the first "Russian" press release on the same case No. 23-CR-00015 "United States v. Marat Lerner". The first one appeared on January 18 last year, and then I called the press secretary, or rather the head of the information department of the prosecutor's office, John Marzullo, and asked why this would happen and whether it would happen in the future. I was told that this would be the case, since Brooklyn, with a population of 2.6 million people, has different nationalities, 38% of which are of foreign origin, among which the majority are Spanish-speaking, but 6.5% speak Chinese and 5.5% Russian. Press releases in Chinese have already been published, and now it is the turn of our great and powerful language. In May last year, the same Brooklyn prosecutor's office reported in Russian "About the court-ordered suppression of the activities of the malicious network 'SNAKE', controlled by the Federal Security Service of Russia."
The latest Russian press release says that 41-year-old Marat Lerner, who lives in Brooklyn, "the former president of a company engaged in providing debt relief services, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud using electronic means and one count of committing fraud using electronic means." during the period of pre-trial release, "for which" Lerner faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison when sentencing. Lerner also agreed to pay $ 2,554,217 and 11 cents in compensation." Further, federal Brooklyn prosecutor Brion Peace, in the Russian translation of the prosecutor's office, stated that " Marat Lerner acted as an underground intermediary in his local community, but instead of fulfilling his obligations in good faith by paying off mortgage loans, he misappropriated the money of his unsuspecting victims in order to live in luxury. This wasn't just a simple money scam; these fraudulent activities affected homes and families in his community. Individuals who were victims of Lerner's fraud were unable to pay their mortgage payments, and some faced foreclosure for overdue debts. Today, the defendant's guilty plea and agreed damages are just one step towards ensuring full justice for the victims of his crimes, and the next step will be sentencing."
According to Prosecutor Pis, " Marat Lerner turned the American dream of his victims into a real nightmare by making false promises about easing the burden of mortgage debt, but in fact engaged in stealing their hard-earned savings for his own benefit. The Prosecutor's Office will continue to protect immigrant communities from criminals who use their position of trust to commit fraud against them and steal their funds." In a press release last year, Lerner was described as "the owner of a Brooklyn-based credit counseling company who' preyed on Russian immigrants by spending their money on luxury goods, expensive food, and BMWs.' Michael Driscoll, then head of the FBI's New York office, said that Lerner " financed his profligate lifestyle by running a long-running scam to exploit the trust and fears of his victims to steal their money, rather than fulfilling his promise to change their mortgages." In a new press release, James Smith, who is described as "Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the New York Regional Office, "said that" Marat Lerner turned the American dream of his victims into a real nightmare by making false promises about easing the burden of mortgage debt, and in fact engaged in theft of them." hard-earned savings for your own benefit." Back then, I called Marat Lerner a " Brooklyn mortgage guy,"which I still do.
According to the 10-page indictment, from approximately August 2016 to January 2021, Lerner, along with others, operated the Lerner Group, which promised to help customers change their mortgages by reducing monthly payments and outstanding mortgage balances. Lerner used his access to his clients 'banking information to create checks that looked like monthly mortgage payments to an alleged escrow agent called Testoni & Villa, as well as to his clients' mortgage banks. But in reality, Lerner was secretly controlling Testoni & Villa, and instead of holding the money in escrow or transferring it to mortgage banks, Lerner deposited the checks into an account that he controlled and used for various personal expenses, including luxury goods and expensive meals, as well as dating site and travel expenses. a BMW car. In total, Lerner embezzled at least $ 550,000 from his clients. The press release also noted that "in January 2023, a grand jury of the Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York indicted and arrested Lerner in connection with the above fraud. Lerner was released on bail and ordered, among other things, not to commit any additional crimes, pursuant to a U.S. District Court order for the Eastern District of New York. However, Lerner continued to steal funds from victims even after he was arrested earlier for the same criminal acts. After being arrested in this case, between January 2023 and May 2023, Lerner stole at least $ 10,000 from the victims. Lerner's bail order was subsequently revoked." Let me clarify that Marat Lerner was released on bail of 150 thousand dollars.
An accomplice (Co-conspirator)was tried in the case, but not charged Marat Lerner, who worked for his company and lives in Brooklyn, and the victim, also from Brooklyn. It was clarified that " in addition to his company Lerner Group, Lerner was the president and manager of the investment company Liberty One Funding Corporation, which conducted business, calling itself Testoni & Villa PLL." The case also includes three " financial institutions whose names are known to the grand jury, and which operated in various states, including New York." The prosecution explains that in 2018, on January 25, Lerner deposited a check for $ 3,191.33 cents written to the Victim's account in Financial Institution-1 by one of the Victim's mortgage banks in Liberty One, and conducted the same operations on February 27 with a check for $ 3,185. 86 and on November 29 with a check for $ 1,543. 94. In 2019, these were checks of the "Victim" on March 21 for $ 3,191. 33; on July 22 for $ 3,191. 33; on July 22 for $1,618. 80 and on November 27 for $1,527. 87, and the first two checks were issued by banks outside the state of New YorkNew York, and the last two checks were issued to Lerner's company, Testoni & Villa. The indictment alleged that there were at least 95 such checks between April 2017 and November 2019 for a total amount of$194,500, of which Lerner deposited less than $ 7,000 to his clients ' mortgage banks, and laundered and embezzled the rest. Lerner withdrew $672,412 in cash from his Liberty One account or transferred it to his personal accounts. His victims usually received letters from a lawyer named "Robert Francis" with the phone number of Testoni & Villa, a Michigan-based company. "These letters," the prosecution argued,"did not connect Lerner with Testoni & Villa."
The case is being heard by 75-year-old Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 2000. The prosecution is represented by assistant Brooklyn federal prosecutor Nick Axelrod, and the defense is represented by Russian-speaking Brooklyn lawyer Tony Mirvis, the son of immigrants from Odessa born in the United States, known for the cases of many bright personalities of our crime in New York. In 2016, Mirvis represented the interests of Alexey Tsvetkov, nicknamed "Pelmen", who was arrested for driving his Lexus drunk in a heavy snowstorm and twice running a red traffic light. But Pelmeni is not famous for this, but for his participation first in the gang "Brigade from Brighton Beach", for which he served 4 years, and then in the gang "Syndicate", for which in 2020 he received 16 years and 6 months of imprisonment, which he is now serving in a federal prison in Pennsylvania and taking into account those served up to a sentence of 4 years, he can be released in 2031. In 2011, Tony Mirvis defended Viktor Natanzon, one of the four "Russian" participants in the high-profile case "CityTime", as the computer program for automating data on working hours of city employees was called. According to the Manhattan Federal Prosecutor's Office, the defendants defrauded the city of New York of more than $ 80 million.
It was the Prosecutor's Office for the Eastern District of New York, which also owned the first "Russian" press release on the same case No. 23-CR-00015 "United States v. Marat Lerner". The first one appeared on January 18 last year, and then I called the press secretary, or rather the head of the information department of the prosecutor's office, John Marzullo, and asked why this would happen and whether it would happen in the future. I was told that this would be the case, since Brooklyn, with a population of 2.6 million people, has different nationalities, 38% of which are of foreign origin, among which the majority are Spanish-speaking, but 6.5% speak Chinese and 5.5% Russian. Press releases in Chinese have already been published, and now it is the turn of our great and powerful language. In May last year, the same Brooklyn prosecutor's office reported in Russian "About the court-ordered suppression of the activities of the malicious network 'SNAKE', controlled by the Federal Security Service of Russia."
The latest Russian press release says that 41-year-old Marat Lerner, who lives in Brooklyn, "the former president of a company engaged in providing debt relief services, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud using electronic means and one count of committing fraud using electronic means." during the period of pre-trial release, "for which" Lerner faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison when sentencing. Lerner also agreed to pay $ 2,554,217 and 11 cents in compensation." Further, federal Brooklyn prosecutor Brion Peace, in the Russian translation of the prosecutor's office, stated that " Marat Lerner acted as an underground intermediary in his local community, but instead of fulfilling his obligations in good faith by paying off mortgage loans, he misappropriated the money of his unsuspecting victims in order to live in luxury. This wasn't just a simple money scam; these fraudulent activities affected homes and families in his community. Individuals who were victims of Lerner's fraud were unable to pay their mortgage payments, and some faced foreclosure for overdue debts. Today, the defendant's guilty plea and agreed damages are just one step towards ensuring full justice for the victims of his crimes, and the next step will be sentencing."
According to Prosecutor Pis, " Marat Lerner turned the American dream of his victims into a real nightmare by making false promises about easing the burden of mortgage debt, but in fact engaged in stealing their hard-earned savings for his own benefit. The Prosecutor's Office will continue to protect immigrant communities from criminals who use their position of trust to commit fraud against them and steal their funds." In a press release last year, Lerner was described as "the owner of a Brooklyn-based credit counseling company who' preyed on Russian immigrants by spending their money on luxury goods, expensive food, and BMWs.' Michael Driscoll, then head of the FBI's New York office, said that Lerner " financed his profligate lifestyle by running a long-running scam to exploit the trust and fears of his victims to steal their money, rather than fulfilling his promise to change their mortgages." In a new press release, James Smith, who is described as "Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the New York Regional Office, "said that" Marat Lerner turned the American dream of his victims into a real nightmare by making false promises about easing the burden of mortgage debt, and in fact engaged in theft of them." hard-earned savings for your own benefit." Back then, I called Marat Lerner a " Brooklyn mortgage guy,"which I still do.
According to the 10-page indictment, from approximately August 2016 to January 2021, Lerner, along with others, operated the Lerner Group, which promised to help customers change their mortgages by reducing monthly payments and outstanding mortgage balances. Lerner used his access to his clients 'banking information to create checks that looked like monthly mortgage payments to an alleged escrow agent called Testoni & Villa, as well as to his clients' mortgage banks. But in reality, Lerner was secretly controlling Testoni & Villa, and instead of holding the money in escrow or transferring it to mortgage banks, Lerner deposited the checks into an account that he controlled and used for various personal expenses, including luxury goods and expensive meals, as well as dating site and travel expenses. a BMW car. In total, Lerner embezzled at least $ 550,000 from his clients. The press release also noted that "in January 2023, a grand jury of the Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York indicted and arrested Lerner in connection with the above fraud. Lerner was released on bail and ordered, among other things, not to commit any additional crimes, pursuant to a U.S. District Court order for the Eastern District of New York. However, Lerner continued to steal funds from victims even after he was arrested earlier for the same criminal acts. After being arrested in this case, between January 2023 and May 2023, Lerner stole at least $ 10,000 from the victims. Lerner's bail order was subsequently revoked." Let me clarify that Marat Lerner was released on bail of 150 thousand dollars.
An accomplice (Co-conspirator)was tried in the case, but not charged Marat Lerner, who worked for his company and lives in Brooklyn, and the victim, also from Brooklyn. It was clarified that " in addition to his company Lerner Group, Lerner was the president and manager of the investment company Liberty One Funding Corporation, which conducted business, calling itself Testoni & Villa PLL." The case also includes three " financial institutions whose names are known to the grand jury, and which operated in various states, including New York." The prosecution explains that in 2018, on January 25, Lerner deposited a check for $ 3,191.33 cents written to the Victim's account in Financial Institution-1 by one of the Victim's mortgage banks in Liberty One, and conducted the same operations on February 27 with a check for $ 3,185. 86 and on November 29 with a check for $ 1,543. 94. In 2019, these were checks of the "Victim" on March 21 for $ 3,191. 33; on July 22 for $ 3,191. 33; on July 22 for $1,618. 80 and on November 27 for $1,527. 87, and the first two checks were issued by banks outside the state of New YorkNew York, and the last two checks were issued to Lerner's company, Testoni & Villa. The indictment alleged that there were at least 95 such checks between April 2017 and November 2019 for a total amount of$194,500, of which Lerner deposited less than $ 7,000 to his clients ' mortgage banks, and laundered and embezzled the rest. Lerner withdrew $672,412 in cash from his Liberty One account or transferred it to his personal accounts. His victims usually received letters from a lawyer named "Robert Francis" with the phone number of Testoni & Villa, a Michigan-based company. "These letters," the prosecution argued,"did not connect Lerner with Testoni & Villa."
The case is being heard by 75-year-old Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 2000. The prosecution is represented by assistant Brooklyn federal prosecutor Nick Axelrod, and the defense is represented by Russian-speaking Brooklyn lawyer Tony Mirvis, the son of immigrants from Odessa born in the United States, known for the cases of many bright personalities of our crime in New York. In 2016, Mirvis represented the interests of Alexey Tsvetkov, nicknamed "Pelmen", who was arrested for driving his Lexus drunk in a heavy snowstorm and twice running a red traffic light. But Pelmeni is not famous for this, but for his participation first in the gang "Brigade from Brighton Beach", for which he served 4 years, and then in the gang "Syndicate", for which in 2020 he received 16 years and 6 months of imprisonment, which he is now serving in a federal prison in Pennsylvania and taking into account those served up to a sentence of 4 years, he can be released in 2031. In 2011, Tony Mirvis defended Viktor Natanzon, one of the four "Russian" participants in the high-profile case "CityTime", as the computer program for automating data on working hours of city employees was called. According to the Manhattan Federal Prosecutor's Office, the defendants defrauded the city of New York of more than $ 80 million.
