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Surety bond scammers sentenced to prison time

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Three men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to six years on Thursday for their parts in a surety bond fraud where worthless “gold certificates” were used to guarantee work on construction projects in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere.

A fourth defendant was sentenced last month for his part in the scheme.

According to the original indictment, the men defrauded three contractors of $1.2 million in bonding fees in 2015.

“It was a purpose of the scheme and artifice for the defendants to unlawfully enrich themselves by obtaining payments from construction companies in exchange for issuing purportedly valuable surety bonds that were, in fact, secured by worthless ‘gold certificates,’” the indictment stated

The four defendants, who were sentenced by a South Florida federal district court judge in Miami, all pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Alexander Xavier was sentenced to six years in prison, Timothy Castracane was sentenced to three years and 10 months, and Henry Hattendorf was sentenced to two years. Last month Robert Wann was sentenced to 4 1/2 half years for his part in the fraud.

 

 

 

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