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Press Release

Brooklyn Man Sentenced for Obstruction

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jacques Laventure, age 36, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced today to 10 months in jail for obstructing an official proceeding by selling a mansion and estate that the U.S. Attorney’s Office was seeking to forfeit as part of a criminal case against his brother.

United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

Laventure is the brother of Jean Lavanture, of Saugerties, New York.  Jean Lavanture was indicted in October 2020 for fraudulently obtaining nearly $5 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) intended to help legitimate businesses during the pandemic. As part of that prosecution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office sought to forfeit a mansion and estate in Byram Township, New Jersey, that Jean Lavanture bought with approximately $850,000 in fraud proceeds.

In previously pleading guilty, Jacques Laventure admitted that between January and March 2021, he schemed to sell the Byram Township property, knowing that the U.S. Attorney’s Office sought to forfeit it.  He also admitted that on March 10, 2021, he completed the sale of the property for $443,920 net of fees, and knew that by selling the property to a third party, he was preventing its forfeiture in the criminal case brought against his brother.

United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby ordered Laventure to forfeit $443,920 already seized by the Government, and to pay $331,080 in restitution.  Judge Suddaby also imposed a 2-year term of post-imprisonment supervised release.

The FBI investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Barnett and Joshua R. Rosenthal prosecuted this case.

Updated January 24, 2023

Topics
Coronavirus
Asset Forfeiture