A former Cambridge resident is behind bars after being sentenced to prison for his role in swindling thousands of dollars through a prep school admissions business.
Mark J. Zimny, 43, was sentenced to 63 months in prison, three years of supervised release, forfeiture of $852,564, and restitution of $839,470 by U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel.
Zimny owned and operated IvyAdmit Consulting Associates, a business that claimed to assist students in obtaining admission to elite American prep schools, colleges, and universities.
However, in 2008, Zimny defrauded a wealthy couple from Hong Kong of more than $650,000 by promising that if they provided him large funds to give to prep schools in New England for ‘development contributions,’ he could influence admissions decisions on behalf of the couple’s two children.
Instead of delivering the funds to the schools as he promised, Zimny embezzled the funds for his own purposes.
Furthermore, Zimny defrauded Mt. Washington Bank (now part of East Boston Savings Bank) by providing the bank with false information, including fictitious tax returns that overreported his receipts from IvyAdmit, to support his application for a mortgage loan.
Zimny was convicted by a federal jury on April 8, 2015, of five counts of wire fraud, five counts of unlawful money laundering, two counts of filing false federal tax returns, and one count of bank fraud.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Victor A. Wild of U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit and Giselle J. Joffre of Ortiz’s Civil Division.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today.
Related Federal Cases
- Alberto Correa-Martinez, Conspiracy and Distribution of Heroin and Cocaine, Massachusetts 2013 · Florida
- Daniel Thibeault, Securities Fraud, Massachusetts 2023 · Washington
- James Dunham, Mail and Wire Fraud, Massachusetts 2023 · Washington
- Aleksei Shushliannikov, Ransomware Laundering, Massachusetts 2014 · New Hampshire
- Mark Craig Leischner, Embezzlement of $311K, Montana 2023 · Washington
Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Category: White Collar Crime|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
ðŸâ€Â’ Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS
US NewsUS NewsUS NewsUS News