The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has announced the indictment of a man accused of orchestrating a large-scale loan fraud scheme. According to a press release yesterday, David Kushner, 59, was charged with grand larceny and scheming to defraud in connection with a $2 million swindle that spanned over two years.
Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg Jr. detailed that Kushner allegedly lied to both private lenders and borrowers, about fees, risks, and even went as far as misappropriating funds. "As alleged, David Kushner lied to borrowers and lenders alike, concealing exorbitant fees, undisclosed risk, and outright theft of approximately $2 million," Bragg said. Noteworthy, Kushner's tactics included promoting loans tied to professional athletes and sports agents often without conducting the promised due diligence checks, as detailed by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Bragg's office has accused Kushner of using his company, LaMancha Funding Corporation, to facilitate 12 loans that amounted to nearly $4.78 million from April 2019 to June 2021. The indictment reveals that rather than performing the extensive checks he claimed, Kushner approved borrowers with questionable credit backgrounds. Consequently, many of the borrowers defaulted, revealing the heightened risk and misrepresented the safety of these loans.
Kushner, as per the indictment, charged borrowers inflated fees while positioning the loans as low-risk, thereby misleading lenders regarding their actual nature. The money which was supposed to pass through Kushner to the lenders instead funded his lavish lifestyle, including luxury cars, a summer home, and country club memberships. In addition, the indictment accuses Kushner of diverting over $100,000 of stolen funds to cover his legal expenses in a separate, ongoing criminal case.
The prosecution is being led by Assistant D.A.s Catherine McCaw, Kofi Sansculotte, and Anthony Santucci, with Senior Financial Investigator Lana Wong and a team of paralegals and analysts providing key support for the case. Collaboration with the New York Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission also proved instrumental, highlighting the broad coordination in rooting out fraudulent financial activities in New York.
