LI Man Sentenced In $3M Bank Loan Scheme: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — A man who conspired in a scheme to defraud Bank of America of more than $3.2 million in loans and lines of credit obtained under false pretenses was sentenced to 42 months in prison, the United States Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

Gary Confredo, 60, of East Northport, also known as "Gary Conte," the former operator of Goldstar Financial Management Corp., a financial services business based in Commack, was also ordered to pay $1,096,882 in restitution to Bank of America. Confredo pleaded guilty in November 2022.

"This defendant's scheme of submitting fraudulent applications for commercial loans and lines of credit to Bank of America was full of lies and deception," Breon Peace, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, stated in a news release. "So with today's sentence, the defendant learns a powerful truth, that cheating financial institutions for personal gain will be punished, and the cost is significant."

Between November 2016 and October 2019, Confredo conspired with others to submit fraudulent applications for commercial loans and lines of credit to Bank of America on behalf of Goldstar clients, who agreed to pay Confredo a portion of any loan he secured on their behalf, according to court documents.

To manipulate the application process, Confredo submitted altered tax returns and bank statements that falsely inflated the clients’ incomes and assets and allowed them to qualify for loans and lines of credit under Bank of America’s lending criteria, prosecutors said.

Bank of America issued approximately $3.2 million in loans and lines of credit to Goldstar’s clients and sustained losses of approximately $1 million when those loans and lines of credit were not repaid, officials said.

"As a financial consultant, Confredo was a trusted member of the financial industry," said Daniel B. Brubaker, inspector-in-charge of the United States Postal Inspection Service, New York division. "However, instead of acting ethically, he used his position to submit fraudulent loan applications on his clients’ behalf. Many of whom were complicit in this scheme. Driven by greed, Confredo and these co-conspirators caused Bank of America to lose millions of dollars in defaulted loans. These crimes have a far-reaching and long-lasting negative impact on the financial industry and the American public. Today’s sentencing bears truth to the fact that Postal Inspectors and our law enforcement partners will investigate and prosecute white collar criminals to the fullest extent of the law."

In July 2022, Peace was selected as the chairperson of the White Collar Fraud subcommittee for the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee.