Alfred Gary's Nassau mortgage fraud conviction upheld by NY top court

The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the conspiracy conviction... — The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the conspiracy conviction of Alfred Gary, one of the defendants in a 2011 scheme in Nassau County involving fake house buyers and sellers that duped homeowners, banks and the county of about $20 million. This photo is from March 16, 2011. Credit: NCDA

By Yancey Royyancey.roy@newsday.comNovember 18, 2015

The state's top court upheld the conviction Wednesday of the final defendant in a mortgage-fraud scam that involved dozens of homes in Nassau County.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the conspiracy conviction of Alfred Gary, one of the defendants charged by Nassau County prosecutors in 2011 in a scheme involving fake house buyers and sellers that duped homeowners, banks and the county of an estimated $20 million.

The scheme revolved around getting straw buyers to obtain mortgages for houses above the sales price, pocketing the difference, then defaulting on the loans. Eventually the ring stole identities to impersonate buyers, authorities said.

Thirteen defendants previously pleaded guilty to an array of charges, according to court documents. James R. Sweet, the Westbury man prosecutors called the ringleader, was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison; he was released on parole in 2014, state prison records show.

Gary had been convicted of fourth-degree conspiracy, a felony, but acquitted of money laundering, enterprise corruption, scheming to defraud and falsifying business records. He was sentenced to 5 years' probation and ordered to pay $139,910 in restitution.

Gary appealed, claiming the trial-court judge erred in allowing into evidence a handwritten note accompanying a phony mortgage application that indicated Gary had spoken to another member of the fraud ring about one of the loans. Gary claimed it was inadmissible hearsay.

But the Court of Appeals disagreed, upholding his conviction in a 6-0 decision.

"At a time when the American economy was plunging into the Great Recession, Alfred Gary and his co-defendants were destroying our communities, ruining the finances of innocent people and contributing to the fiscal distress of Nassau County," Nassau County District Attorney-elect Madeline Singas said in a statement. "I am thankful that both the Appellate Division and the Court of Appeals unanimously upheld Mr. Gary's conviction for conspiracy in the fourth degree."