Long Island banker, colleague, plead guilty in nearly $9 million scheme

A Long Island banker and a New York colleague pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire and bank fraud in a nearly $9 million scheme, prosecutors said Thursday.

The arraignment of a third banker from Long Island charged in the same scheme was postponed. All three men were senior executives at a Garden City-based mortgage lender, Vanguard Funding LLC, the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said Thursday.

The trio of defendants misspent loan proceeds on personal and other expenses, according to prosecutors.

The two who pleaded guilty, Matthew T. Voss, 42, of Northport, and Edward J. Sypher, Jr., 41, of Scarsdale, could be sentenced to as long as 20 years in prison.In addition to paying fines and criminal forfeiture, they also could have to make restitution, according to prosecutors.

“Today Mr. Voss accepted responsibility for his role in the unfortunate events that occurred during the financial collapse of Vanguard Funding,” said Voss’ attorney, Brian J. Griffin. “At sentencing we look forward to putting forth the steps Mr. Voss took to substantially mitigate the financial harm to the company and other lending institutions.”

He declined to reveal those measures.

Attorneys for Sypher and the third banker, Edward E. Bohm, 40, of Nissequogue, had no immediate comment. Bohm now is expected to be arraigned on Feb. 22, prosecutors said.

Last August, a federal criminal complaint was brought against the three men.

Bohm was recorded telling a co-conspirator that they would not be prosecuted because they were taking money from banks instead of the public, the complaint said.

Voss, who was Vanguard’s chief operating officer, and Sypher, the chief financial officer, obtained short-term loans for the bank “by falsely representing” that the money would fund mortgages or mortgage refinancings for clients, prosecutors said.

But during the August 2016 to March 2017 scheme, the duo spent the cash on “personal expenses and compensation,” and paid off loans with “fraudulent loan submissions for improper purposes,” prosecutors said.

Bohm, president of sales and a minority owner of Vanguard, was charged with wire and bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit those two crimes in an indictment issued last month.

His charges spanned the August 2015 to March 2017 period, prosecutors said.