November 13, 2014

Former CFO of New York Brokerage Firm Sentenced to 33 Months in Prison for Stealing $1 Million from His Former Employer

TRENTON, NJ—The former chief financial officer of the Manhattan-based brokerage firm Needham & Co. was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for stealing $1 million from his former employer through an elaborate false invoicing scheme, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Glen W. Albanese, 43, of Manalapan, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with conspiring to steal $1 million from Needham & Co. Judge Sheridan imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

Two of Albanese’s conspirators, Vincent Sarubbi, 44, of Manalapan, and Eric Siegel, 39, of New York, have also pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the scheme. Siegel was sentenced on Sept. 23, 2014 to serve eight months of home confinement and pay restitution of $395,212. Sarubbi was sentenced today to serve 14 months of home confinement and pay restitution of $436,195.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2000 through 2010, while he was employed as the CFO of Needham & Co., a broker-dealer with headquarters in New York, Albanese stole $1 million from the company through a false invoicing scheme. Albanese induced several vendors of Needham—including Data Source Partners, an information technology services company owned by Sarubbi, and S&R Graphic Company, a printing company where Siegel worked—to submit fraudulent invoices to Needham. Some of the fraudulent invoices charged for services that were never provided, while others inflated the amount due for services that were provided. Albanese approved the fraudulent invoices on behalf of Needham and then directed the vendors to send him the bulk of the illicit proceeds.

The vendors funneled the illicit proceeds to Albanese in a variety of ways. Albanese admitted that he directed Siegel to meet him at predetermined locations in Manhattan with envelopes containing thousands of dollars in cash. He directed both Siegel and Sarubbi to pay his personal expenses directly. Siegel and Sarubbi used the proceeds from the scheme to pay for landscaping and interior decorating at Albanese’s residence, a designer-breed dog and “canine fence,” equestrian equipment, thousands of dollars’ worth of wine and more than $40,000 in flights, hotels and travel expenses.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Albanese to serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution of $1 million.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, with the investigation.

The government is represented by Zach Intrater, Deputy Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit in Newark.

This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Over the past three fiscal years, the Justice Department has filed nearly 10,000 financial fraud cases against nearly 15,000 defendants including more than 2,900 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.stopfraud.gov.