May 9, 2014

Former Ft. Lauderdale Resident Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud Using MBC Shell Company to Defraud a Financial Institution

Wifredo Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), announce that Henry Fecker, III, 60, of Ft. Lauderdale, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum in Ft. Lauderdale to a superseding information charging him with one count of bank fraud. Sentencing for Fecker is scheduled for July 18, 2014 before Judge Rosenbaum.

According to court documents, Fecker was the listed owner of Camden Consulting, Inc., a shell company used by the principals of Mutual Benefits Corporation (MBC) to receive proceeds from a massive Ponzi scheme from approximately 1994 through 2004. According to court documents, in 2006, Fecker obtained a $1.5 million bank loan from Washington Mutual Bank in the form of a cash-out refinance of a waterfront vacation house in Camden, Maine. The vacation house had been purchased with funds derived from MBC. Fecker and his accomplice, Steven Steiner, a/k/a Steven Steinger, received $487,801.15 as proceeds from the bank loan. According to court documents, Fecker acknowledged that he and Steiner held the funds in the form of ten separate certified bank checks and cashed them periodically between 2008 and 2011. Fecker acknowledged that this was done to conceal the funds from judgment creditors, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Fecker used the funds to support a lavish lifestyle and to pay bills for Fecker, Steiner, and Steiner’s brother, Joel Steinger, in the years after MBC shut down.

Fecker made material false statements on the loan application under penalty of perjury, including by claiming a monthly salary of $102,083, and that he had been the President of Camden Consulting for 11 years. Fecker also provided a false residence and business address to make the claim of employment appear legitimate. In truth, Camden Consulting was never a real company, had no real business, and Fecker had not had any employment since approximately 1996 when he worked at MBC.

In an earlier case, United States v. Henry Fecker, III and Steven Steiner, No. 11-20578-KMW, in February 2013, Steiner and Fecker were defendants in a four-week trial before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, for money laundering and obstruction of justice. Steiner was convicted of 31 counts and Fecker was acquitted of all counts.

And, in earlier proceedings, Joel Steinger and Steven Steiner pleaded guilty to charges in this case, No. 12-20123-RSR, and a separate case related to the MBC fraud, No. 08-21158-CR-RNS.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and IRS-CI. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jerrob Duffy, Dwayne E. Williams and Alison Lehr.