MANHATTAN (CN) - Federal prosecutors say the CEO of Nemazee Capital Corp. defrauded three banks of $292 million in a Ponzi scheme. Hassan Nemazee defrauded Bank of America to get $142 million in loans, some of which he repaid with $75 million in loans from Citibank, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He also repaid some of the Citibank loan with money from BofA, and after the FBI talked to him, he allegedly "drew down on a line of credit that he had fraudulently obtained from HSBC and used the monies to pay Citibank the $74.9 million he owed them."
Nemazee forged signatures and submitted bogus documents showing he had nonexistent collateral to get the loans, prosecutors said.
Nemazee, 59, of Manhattan, spread the banks' money around, the U.S. Attorney said. He donated to federal state and local candidates and PACs, gave some to charity, and also bought property in Italy and maid payments on property in Manhattan and Katonah, N.Y.
He is charged with three counts of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. He faces up to 32 years in prison if convicted.
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