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Press Release

Former CFO of Long Island Real Estate Company Pleads Guilty to Multi Million Dollar Fraud

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York
Defendant Admitted Stealing Millions of Dollars for Personal Expenses

Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, Kwesi Bovell, the former chief financial officer (CFO) of The Mulholland Group, a real estate company in Manhasset (Mulholland), pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection with his embezzlement of millions of dollars from his employer over the course of three years.  The plea was entered before United States Magistrate Judge Gary R. Brown.  When sentenced, Bovell faces up to 20 years in prison, as well as restitution and a fine.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the guilty plea.

As described in court filings and as admitted during his guilty plea, Bovell was hired in 2015 as CFO of Mulholland, and was given signature authority over numerous bank accounts of the company and its subsidiaries.  Over the next three years, Bovell fraudulently transferred over $3.5 million from Mulholland to his own company, Southgate Holding, LLC.  Bovell used the stolen funds to support two laundromats and a fitness center that he owned and to purchase luxury goods.

“With today’s guilty plea, Bovell has been held responsible for betraying his employer’s trust by stealing millions of dollars to benefit himself, from the time he was hired until the discovery of his fraud,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. 

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division.  Assistant United States Attorneys Charles P. Kelly and Madeline O’Connor are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendant:

KWESI BOVELL
Age:  36
Valley Stream, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 18-571 (JMA)

Contact

John Marzulli
United States Attorney’s Office
(718) 254-6323

Updated September 10, 2019

Topic
Financial Fraud