Earlier this month, ETKS Partner Donald M. Thompson, was able to achieve a Misdemeanor-level plea offer and sentence of ‘Time Served’ with a $500 fine for a client that was initially looking at a decades-long prison sentence. The four individuals, including the ETKS client, were charged in May 2019 in a indictment that accused them of mortgage fraud and inducing loans from banks on apartment projects, by submitting fake rent rolls, income statements, appraisals and other documents. At $500 million, it was touted at the time by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York as one of the biggest cases of mortgage fraud in the country since the housing crisis in 2008.
However, after years of mishaps and an outright refusal by the federal government to provide all evidence held , Mr. Thompson was able to get the first indictment dismissed, and was preparing for trial on behalf of the client. Mr. Thompson was able to secure a plea offer to a misdemeanor-level offense and through his sentencing memorandum on behalf of the client, District Court Judge Elizabeth Wolford sentenced the client to ‘time served’ on pre-trial release along with a $500 dollar fine. Donald was quoted as saying when interviewed by The Buffalo News that the sentencing “a reasonable result, a just result.
