Man sentenced up to 10 1/2 years in prison for role in $12 million Ponzi scheme

Former clients of a Syosset financial adviser whom a judge sentenced to prison Monday called him a “despicable thief" for earning their trust before stealing from their parents' life savings in a $12 million Ponzi scheme.

Matthew Eckstein, 52, will go to prison for 3 ½ to 10 ½ years after his guilty plea to felony charges of grand larceny and conspiracy in a scheme prosecutors previously said took “a page from Bernie Madoff’s playbook” while scamming nearly 50 victims.

Many were senior citizens who had invested their retirement savings, according to authorities.

While sentencing Eckstein, Nassau Supervising Judge Teresa Corrigan also signed a $6.8 million restitution order Monday. She told him that "if there is a dime that comes your way," a portion of that money would go towards paying back the victims. 

The daughter of one of Eckstein’s victims read a letter in court from her mother, Diane Liguori, describing how Eckstein’s greed had cost her and her husband, who now has advanced dementia.

“Matthew stole our hard-earned money, but in fact, he robbed us and our family of so much more. Our sense of security and trust is gone. We now have sleepless nights of worry, instead of being able to enjoy these golden years of our lives,” the letter said.

The children of victims Donald and Gloria DeHayes wrote in a letter that prosecutor Betty Rodriguez read in court that Eckstein ignored them, lied to them and provided bogus account statements — ultimately stealing more than $500,000 from the family.

“He is a despicable thief, who not only stole the life savings of many hard-working men and women, but also violated the most basic sense of trust and decency that we all expect from our communities in a civil society,” their letter said.

Eckstein spoke briefly Monday, before court officers later led him out in his navy blue business suit and handcuffs.

"I'm very sorry to everybody I hurt," Eckstein said, before adding he knew he couldn't undo what he'd done.

Eckstein's co-defendant, former Pennsylvania insurance broker Kevin Brody, pleaded guilty to grand larceny and conspiracy in 2019. State records show Brody, now 58, made parole in January after serving a sentence of 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison.

Eckstein first pleaded guilty in 2019, but later withdrew the plea. Prosecutors re-indicted him about a year later on a higher charge, but then pandemic-related court closures delayed the case. He pleaded guilty again in February.

The Nassau District Attorney's Office said Eckstein, who owned a firm called Sisk Investment Services he ran out of his home, lured many victims into the scheme by convincing existing clients to invest in a Hicksville-based entity known as Conmac Funding Corp. that Brody owned.

But prosecutors said that instead of investing the money into Conmac Funding — purported to be an insurance company — Eckstein and Brody funded other enterprises that included hamburger joints, used it to pay other victims of the scheme and funded their own extravagant lifestyles.

Authorities said Eckstein used some of the stolen money to make a down payment on a home with a swimming pool and tennis court.

Some of the victims were Long Islanders, including residents of Massapequa, Seaford, Glen Cove, Oyster Bay, Plainview, Woodmere, Wantagh, Hewlett Harbor, Woodbury, Hicksville, Merrick and Oceanside in Nassau, and residents of Smithtown, Melville, Dix Hills and Miller Place in Suffolk. Other victims were from New York City and the extended tri-state area, along with Florida, the Carolinas and California, according to prosecutors.

 They said the defendants gave victims a way to log into their Conmac Funding accounts online to view their supposedly growing account balances, leading them to believe their principal investments were with that entity and earning interest.

But then the scam began to unravel, leading to the defendants' 2018 arrests. 

Nassau prosecutors began investigating in late 2017 after an elderly victim who had invested nearly $400,000 in Conmac Funding complained she couldn't get all her money back.

Eckstein, who was a registered certified public accountant, had assured her the principal would be returned after a two-year period with 4 percent interest, but stopped communicating with her after only returning part of her investment when she asked for all of it, according to authorities.

Eckstein's attorney, Dennis Lemke, said in court Monday that his client was "not quite the monster" people were describing, and clients whose trust Eckstein gained had made money on their investments over the years.

The defense attorney also portrayed Brody as the scheme's mastermind, saying Eckstein tried to get clients' money back but should have "stood up" and reported it when he knew a crime had been committed.

Eckstein is a husband and father who has coached youth baseball and "feels tremendously guilty and sorry," Lemke said after court.

Prosecutors said they teamed with the state Comptroller's Office, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the state Attorney General's Office during the probe.

The Nassau District Attorney's Office worked to freeze all known assets of Eckstein and Brody before prosecutors were able to seize $5.6 million to repay the victims in part, according to authorities.

Seeing the judge sentence Eckstein provided "some satisfaction," scam victim Don Karlsen, 65, of Farmingdale, said after court Monday. He said his family has recouped about 40 percent of the $100,000 they lost.

Karlsen also had some words for Eckstein before the defendant walked into court.

"I just told him to 'Have a nice stay' in prison," he recalled.