Former Chief Financial Officer Of Manhattan-Based Real Estate Management Company Sentenced To 63 Months In Prison For Fraud

Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that LOUIS LITVIN, the former chief financial officer of United Realty Management (“URM”), was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald to 63 months in prison for his role in a fraudulent scheme to steal more than $1 million from URM. 

Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said:  “Louis Litvin, the former chief financial officer of the real estate management company URM, abused his position and substantial control he had over URM’s books, to help orchestrate a million-dollar fraud against the very company he was supposed to be serving.  Today, this corporate executive was held accountable for his criminal greed.”

According to the Complaint, Information, and statements made on the record at sentencing:

From 1996 to 2011, LITVIN was the CFO for URM, and also a part-owner of URM.   Unbeknownst to his co-owners, LITVIN conspired with co-defendants Melissa Chan (a former URM bookkeeper) and Chitakra Ramudit (a former Capital One branch manager who handled URM’s banking relationship) to steal more than $1 million from URM through fraudulent wire transfers, cashier’s checks, and unauthorized transfers and deposits. 

LITVIN also took steps to cover up the fraud.  For example, after he was fired from URM, he filed for bankruptcy.  In connection with the bankruptcy proceeding, he lied in his sworn deposition, and he coached Chan to lie in her deposition, by providing her with a cover story to explain money she received from him.  The cover-up of the fraud continued for years after LITVIN was fired in October 2011, until it finally came to light when URM retained forensic auditors to review the accounts that LITVIN oversaw.

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In addition to his term of incarceration, LITVIN, 64, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was sentenced to five years of supervised release, and forfeiture and restitution in amounts to be determined.

LITVIN’s co-defendant Melissa Chan pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud on October 24, 2017, and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Buchwald on March 14, 2018.  LTIVIN’s co-defendant Chitakra Ramudit is charged in Information S2 17 Cr. 445 (NRB) with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.  The allegations in the Information as to Ramudit are merely accusations, and she is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Mr. Kim praised the Criminal Investigators of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. 

This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Eli J. Mark and Jacob Warren are in charge of the prosecution.