08.16.06 -
DA says HSBC Officer Lent $2M
to Fake Firms
A former loan officer for HSBC bank in Valley Stream was arrested yesterday and
charged with lending money to phony companies, knowing that the companies would
never repay their debts, Nassau prosecutors said.
Mohammed Rizvi, 35, of Dix Hills, a native of Pakistan, lent about $2 million
of HSBC's money to fake companies, saying he had been about to check out the
businesses, but he never did, prosecutors said. The companies, which were
incorporated on paper but did not physically exist, were all owned by Pakistani
citizens, said Diane Peress, economic crimes bureau chief for the Nassau
district attorney's office. She said her office is still looking into how the
money was used.
Rizvi was charged with second-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to
defraud, and first-degree falsifying of business records. He was arraigned
yesterday in First District Court in Hempstead, and was being held on $250,000
bail. His lawyer, Nancy Bartling, could not be reached.
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