Michael Conway, 41, of Verona, New Jersey, is going away for four years after masterminding a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme built on forged office equipment leases. The president of Choice Office Solutions LLC pleaded guilty in February 2016 to wire fraud and was sentenced today by United States District Judge William F. Kuntz in the Eastern District of New York. Conway’s scam ripped off an individual investor and De Lage Landen Financial Solutions Partner (DLLFSP) for a combined $4.7 million.
Between March 2014 and August 2015, Conway forged lease agreements with dozens of legitimate businesses—law firms, universities, hospitals, even the New York Mets—then used them as fake collateral to secure investor cash. He lured an unsuspecting partner into the business, promising returns from equipment leasing deals. Conway presented signed leases and invoices for 58 companies, convincing the investor to hand over $3.5 million. In reality, most of the leases were fabrications, and Conway pocketed the bulk of the funds.
One of the most brazen forgeries involved the New York Mets. Conway forged a lease and a letter purportedly signed by Jeffrey Wilpon, the team’s Chief Operating Officer, to trick the individual investor into wiring $500,000. He then used the same fake documents to scam DLLFSP, securing $313,000 in fraudulent financing. Through repeated forgeries, Conway drained more than $1.2 million from DLLFSP alone.
Restitution was ordered as part of the sentence: $3,555,493.40 must be paid to the individual investor and $1,203,516 to DLLFSP. The judgment reflects the sheer scale of Conway’s deception, which relied on exploiting trust and the blind spots of financial due diligence.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Winston Paes and David Pitluck of the Eastern District of New York’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Robert L. Capers, U.S. Attorney for the district, and FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr., announced the sentence, underscoring federal resolve to target white-collar fraud that destabilizes markets and ruins lives.
The charges were brought under the umbrella of the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force—a sprawling coalition of over 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices, and local partners. Since 2009, the task force has prosecuted over 18,000 financial fraud cases. Conway’s conviction, docked as E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16-CR-052 (WFK), is another notch in its campaign to hold financial predators accountable.
Related Federal Cases
- Shawn Hilliard Gets 12 Years for $1.3M Bank Fraud Scheme · Pennsylvania
- Irfan Amanat Charged in $2M KITD, Maiden Capital Fraud Scheme · New Jersey
- Norman D’Souza Sentenced in $18M Loan Fraud Scheme · New Jersey
- Guard & Girlfriend Busted in MDC Contraband Scheme · New Jersey
- Habib Chaudhry Nabbed in $200M Credit Card Fraud Scheme · New Jersey
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
🔒 Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
Browse More
