Federal Jury Convicts Pittsford Father and Son of Multiple Fraud Charges

       Rochester, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a jury has convicted Michael C. Kaufman and his son, Richard A. Kaufman, both of Pittsford, N.Y., of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and loan fraud. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a fine of $1,000,000 or both.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bradley E. Tyler and Craig R. Gestring, who handled the trial of the case, stated that between 2002 and November 2007, the defendants directed the Controller of American Industrial Sales, d/b/a RAK Industries, to provide false financial statements to Key Bank, and to the company’s outside accounting firm. The false financial statements significantly overvalued the accounts receivable and inventory, which were the two assets that Key Bank relied upon as collateral for a total loan credit of $2,000,000.

The loan proceeds were used by the defendants to fund their personal lifestyles including expensive homes, generous salaries and country club memberships. After the defendants defaulted on the Key Bank loan in the summer of 2007, they converted to their personal use approximately $53,000 of accounts receivable proceeds that were the property of Key Bank. As a result of the fraud scheme, Key Bank suffered an immediate loss of over $1.5 million.

The conviction is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.