Press Release
Albany Woman Sentenced to 37 Months for Wire Fraud
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Bobbi A. Constantine, formerly known as Robert Bove, age 48, of Albany, was sentenced today to 37 months in prison, and 3 years of supervised release, following her November 2017 guilty plea to wire fraud.
The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Acting Inspector in Charge Raymond Moss, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Boston Division.
United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino also ordered Constantine to pay restitution of $72,589.96 and forfeit $43,640.72.
From October 2014 through July 2016, Constantine, then known as Robert Bove, obtained mortgages and automobile lease financing from lenders under the false pretense that she was the beneficiary of a trust containing more than $12 million of the assets of a fictitious, deceased aunt.
Constantine used fictitious trust documents, which bore a forged notary seal, to dupe an attorney into generating a letter stating that that she was the beneficiary of a trust generating annual income of more than $50,000. Constantine also impersonated a fictitious administrative trustee for the trust. On the basis of the fraudulent trust documents and the attorney’s letter, Constantine obtained lease financing for a new Toyota RAV4 and a new Jeep Renegade, and obtained mortgages for her purchase of a $200,000 home in Albany and a $131,000 condominium in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In August 2017, Constantine was sentenced in another federal criminal case, for making false statements in connection with her May 2016 application for employment with the United States Postal Service in Troy, New York. Constantine, who has more than 20 prior convictions including convictions for fraud, falsely stated in her employment application that she had never been convicted of a crime.
Constantine has been in federal custody since September 13, 2016. She received a sentence of time served on the false statements conviction.
This case was investigated by the USPIS, the New York State Police, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, and the Bethlehem Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Coffman.
Updated January 5, 2018
Topic
Financial Fraud
Component