Mineola Attorney Sentenced in $9M Fraud Scheme

A Mineola real estate attorney will spend the next 4-years in prison for his role in a $9 million mortgage fraud scheme.

Eric Finger, 47, was sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court on October 12 to 51-months in prison and was ordered to forfeit $7.2 million.

According to the indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Finger and his co-conspirators allegedly defrauded various lending institutions by using fictitious and fraudulent “straw identities” to apply for mortgage loans. Finger reportedly acted as the lender’s counsel on many of the fraudulent transactions.

Though retained by the lenders to represent their interests at closings, Finger reportedly disbursed fraudulently obtained mortgage proceeds to co-conspirators and lied to his clients about the fraudulent nature of the transactions. He also misrepresented the identities of the individuals who were actually receiving the loan proceeds, as well as the amounts they received.

Through the scheme, Finger and his co-conspirators were reportedly able to obtain more than $9 million in mortgage loans for the purchase of dozens of residential properties throughout the New York City metropolitan area and Long Island. Most of the loans quickly went into default.

“Eric Finger’s sentence is a fitting conclusion for a man who abused his license to practice law and disgraced the bar by helping to facilitate a multi-million dollar fraud scheme,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “He has now lost his liberty and will forfeit millions in ill-gotten gains.”

In addition to the prison term and forfeiture, U.S. District Judge Naomi R. Buchwald sentenced Finger to 3 years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $200 special assessment fee.