Glenside Man Indicted in $10M Fraud Case

The U.S. Attorney's Office said yesterday that six men, including Matthew McManus, 43, of Glenside, were charged as part of a scheme that defrauded more than 800 people out of more than $10 million.

According to the press release, McManus, along with Andrew Bogdanoff, 65, of Scottsdale, Ariz., Shayne Fowler, 27, of Scottsdale, Ariz., Joel Nathanson, 25, of San Diego, Frank Vogel, 47, of Rochester Hills, Mich., and Aaron Bogdanoff, 24, of Scottsdale, Ariz., allegedly used a commercial financing fee scheme to bilk the victims. 

From the press release:

“The indictment alleges that defendant Andrew Bogdanoff was the founder and chairman of Remington Financial Group (later renamed Remington Capital) and ran the company with defendant McManus until 2008 in Arizona and Pennsylvania. After McManus left the company in 2008, defendant Fowler replaced McManus as Bogdanoff’s right-hand man …”

“According to the indictment, between 2005 and 2011, the defendants fraudulently induced hundreds of people to pay Remington fees in excess of $10,000 a piece, based on false representations that Remington had lenders and/or investors ready to provide financing for the victims’ projects. To facilitate this fraud the defendants issued each victim a “letter of interest,” commonly referred to as an LOI …”

To read the whole press release, click here.

According to the press release, McManus attempted to distance himself from the fraudulent scheme by obstructing justice and lying to federal agents.

McManus is charged with wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, several counts of money laundering, and obstruction of justice and making false statements to a federal agent.

If convicted, McManus faces a maximum sentence of 105 years in prison.

McManus's attorney, Lisa Mathewson, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that McManus intends to fight the charges, which she said were related to his association with Bogdanoff and "did not reflect on Mr. McManus's own Philadelphia-based business."