Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. is at it again. No, Vance’s band of prosecutorial marauders have not just hopped, skipped and jumped from county to county or state to state, but Vance’s seemingly infinitely long appendages have grabbed yet another alleged fraudster. According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office website, junior Ponzi schemer and United States Naval Academy graduate, Bryan Caisse, duped friends and former classmates out of more than $1 million when law enforcement finally caught up to him in airport in Bogotá, Colombia. Although in the aggregate the crime(s) exceeded $1,000,000, and therefore could be the basis of a First Degree Grand Larceny arrest, Caisse dodged a proverbial bullet. Instead, it appears that DA Vance’s minions charged Caisse with multiple lesser offenses including Second Degree Grand Larceny and Third Degree Grand Larceny on an individual basis. Of course, avoiding mandatory state prison on a plea or conviction of First Degree Grand Larceny is a hollow victory. There is no doubt prosecutors will ask for, and many judges would sentence, a term of incarceration in a New York State prison.
Prosecutors claim that commencing sometime in 2008, Caisse said he was going to start a company, Huxley Capital Management. Friends and former classmates contributed and gave Caisse more than $1 million. What is right out of Bernie Maddoff’s DIY handbook, it is alleged that Caisse pocket the money for such items as rental payments, car services, personal debts, credit cards, cash withdrawals, and restaurants. Ultimately, when the the “investors” sought repayment, Caisse couldn’t deliver. Prosecutors have gone as far as to assert that Caisse even claimed he was in a car accident to avoid repayment. Unfortunately for some of the investors, it is believed only some folks were paid back from stolen proceeds of others.
In the event prosecutors secure a conviction, as noted above, Caisse is not facing mandatory prison. As a first time offender, a conviction for Second Degree Grand Larceny, New York Penal Law 155.40, carries a sentence of no incarceration to up to five to fifteen years behind bars. A person is guilty of PL 155.40 if that person steals property valued more than $50,000, but equal to or less than $1,000,000. A conviction for Third Degree Grand Larceny, New York Penal Law 155.35, has the same minimum, but a maximum of two and one third to seven years in prison. PL 155.35 has a lower threshold that involve thefts greater than $3,000, but equal to or less than $50,000.
Practically speaking, if true and prosectors can either prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt or a plea is accepted, Caisse is very likely looking a serving time not at the Sagamore, but an upstate complex with less cozy accommodations. In total, Caisse’s charges include four counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, six counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree (an “E” felony punishable by a sentence of no more than one and one third to four years in prison).
Caisse’s arrest and pending indictment come on the heals of other “big time” fraud and larceny arrests including the 100 person arrests and indictments involving police and firemen in an alleged social security scheme.
To learn about Scheme to Defraud or any degree of Grand Larceny, please review this blog and the NewYorkCriminalLawyerBlog.Com as well as Saland Law PC’s websites linked below.
A criminal defense firm established by two prosecutors who served in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the New York criminal lawyers at Saland Law PC represent clients in all criminal matters of fraud and theft in the New York City and surrounding suburban areas.