Steven Mandala, a former New York City Merrill Lynch stockbroker has been indicted in Manhattan Criminal Court on felony charges of grand larceny, money laundering, criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records, and identity theft for allegedly stealing around $780,000 from Merrill Lynch.
The allegations are based on a bizarre set of facts. Mandala applied for employment with Merrill Lynch and told them that he was a high-earning partner at another firm managing $300,000 million of assets and making 1,5 million in revenue, of which he received a compensation of $765,000. According to the indictment, he produced false pay stubs, tax returns, and W-2 forms to prove this information. As the result, Merrill Lynch relied on this misrepresentation and hired Mandala with a salary of $100,000. Additionally, Merrill lynch gave Mandalla a loan of $780,000, which Mandala was to pay back within 8 years. This is normal practice in the securities industry and it is used to lure in new high earning traders and brokers.
The criminal investigation began when Mandala quit after 2 months but not before depositing the check, then buying a Ferrari. Within the 2 months of employment, he was frequently absent and failed to bring in any significant clients. When his work place was being cleared by Merrill Lynch, they discovered credit cards in Mandala’s girlfriend’s father, whose identity Mandala allegedly had stolen. Tens of thousands of dollars had been charged on the credit cards before the accounts went into collection.
If convicted, Mandala faces long prison time.
