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George Guldi, who served as a Long Island legislator representing the South Fork of Suffolk County, and Litchfield County resident Victoria Davidson, of Lakeville, Connecticut, defrauded Ditech Financial LLC, a mortgage lender, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced.
“George Guldi, while in prison, concocted and conducted a scheme along with his co-conspirator, Victoria Davidson, to brazenly steal more than $250,000 through blatant lies," Williams said on Wednesday, Jan. 25. "Today, a jury held them accountable for their scheme, and they will both face justice for their shameless misconduct.”
According to the complaint, the superseding Indictment, court filings, evidence presented during the trial, and public information:
- In February 2017, Ditech Financial LLC received a payment of approximately $250,000 from JPMorgan Chase in connection with the settlement of a civil lawsuit between several financial institutions.
- Ditech mistakenly treated the funds as a payment from Guldi toward his own mortgage, and it sent a letter to Guldi in March 2017 stating that it would not credit the payment because he owed more than the payment.
- Guldi, who was in state prison at the time for insurance-related offenses and knew that he had not actually sent any money to Ditech, then enlisted his former girlfriend, Davidson, to contact Ditech and try to “break” the funds “loose,” as he put it in a recorded call from prison.
- In the ensuing weeks, Davidson called Ditech at least 19 times and, during those calls, told multiple lies in an attempt to obtain the funds — including falsely stating that she was an attorney and an officer of Guldi's company and that GuIdi had purportedly sent the funds to Ditech “accidentally” and wanted them returned.
- In April 2017, after weeks of Davidson’s misrepresentations, Ditech wired the funds to Davidson’s personal bank account.
- Within two weeks, Davidson had drained the bulk of the funds out of her account, paying various of her and Guldi’s expenses and purchasing multiple cashier’s checks. Within months, the money was gone.
Guldi, age 69, now of Ludlow, Vermont, and Davidson, age 57, were each convicted:
- One count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud,
- One count of wire fraud,
- One count of bank fraud.
The conspiracy and bank fraud counts carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and the wire fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Guldi is due to be sentenced on Tuesday, May 30, and Davidson is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, May 31.
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