Rockland County Fire Commissioner Sentenced to 12 Months and a Day in Prison for Engaging in Scheme to Defraud the Public

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that NATHAN ROTHSCHILD, a former commissioner of the Monsey Fire District in Rockland County (the “Fire District”), was sentenced today in White Plains federal court by United States District Judge Kenneth M. Karas to 12 months and a day in prison for engaging in a mail fraud scheme that caused the Fire District to enter into a real estate transaction for the purpose of paying off his personal debt to his creditor. ROTHSCHILD pled guilty to one count of mail fraud before Judge Karas on June 30, 2011.

During his plea allocution, ROTHSCHILD admitted to participating in a scheme in which he proposed that the Fire District purchase a parcel of real estate from a creditor of his without disclosing ROTHSCHILD’s interest in the transaction. As part of the scheme, ROTHSCHILD expected that the Fire District would purchase the real estate at a higher price than the creditor had paid. ROTHSCHILD intended the creditor’s profit, which he expected to be approximately $125,000, to serve as partial payment of his debt.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.

This case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Douglas B. Bloom and Margery B. Feinzig are in charge of the prosecution.