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Source: Times Union, Albany, N.迷你倉新蒲崗Y.Aug. 07--UTICA -- Albany broker Timothy M. McGinn was driven by arrogance and his partner, David L. Smith, was going along with him with no regard for the law when they executed a stock swindle that looted millions of dollars from the accounts of their clients, a judge said at their sentencings WednesdayU.S. District Court Judge David Hurd sentenced McGinn to 15 years in prison during a morning court session and then returned to the bench in the afternoon to impose 10 years on Smith.The two men must jointly pay $5.7 million in restitution and other costs for their roles in the Ponzi-like scheme prosecutors said they ran at their investment firm, McGinn, Smith. U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian says it's the largest such <<>> the office has ever prosecuted.Both men were handcuffed and taken into custody to begin their sentences. Before being <<>> from the courtroom, Smith, 68, hugged his daughter, Lauren Mirich, and other family members. Mirich cried when Hurd sentenced her father. His son, Geoffrey Smith, glared at federal prosecutors after speaking on his father's behalf.William J. Brown, the receiver handling the collection of money stolen from victims' accounts, was in the courtroom for the sentence.Hurd berated McGinn for his conduct."The question becomes, what caused his downfall? At this time? At this time and place? I came up with one word that describes your downfall -- and that word is arrogant," Hurd told McGinn."You ran your business and you didn't really care about the rules as long as you made money for you and your favorite clients," the judge continued.McGinn, 65, thanked jurors for their work, but Hurd took the time to note harsh words McGinn had for the panel when interviewed recently by a probation officer compiling a sentencing report."The jury pool in Utica was not sophisticated financially and they did not understand charges at hand," Hurd quoted McGinn as saying."One can only imagine what you said about the jury in private conversations."Hurd seemed more sympathetic toward Smith."You have <<>> an impressive life," Hurd told Smith, noting his family and friends."The question becomes what <<>> to your downfall ...and it appears to me that much of it resulted from your going along with Mr. McGinn," the judge said.But he also reminded Smith he wrote a 1999 confession letter to McGinn in which he expressed fear the firm's actions could lead to criminal charges."I told the truth when I said I was completely innocent of allegations contained in the indictment," Smith 迷你倉出租aid.The two men were convicted of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion.The crimes carry sentences of up to 20 years in prison. However, the Justice Department said federal sentencing guidelines call for life sentences because of aggravating factors that include the high amount of losses, number of victims and the sophisticated nature of the scheme.Prosecutors said McGinn and Smith not only defrauded investors but diverted approximately $4.1 million from investment trusts for their own benefit. They said the two created false loan documents, misled investors and lied to federal regulators.Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Coombe rejected McGinn and Smith's assertions that the collapse of their business was caused by a downturn in the economy, not criminal conduct."None of us would be here if this was just a routine business failure," she told the judge during McGinn's sentencing.McGinn's attorney, E. Stewart Jones, asked Hurd for leniency."No one did more for their investors than Tim McGinn," he told the judge.Jones argued that unlike all big firms that needed financial bailouts from the federal government during the 2008 financial crisis, small ones like McGinn, Smith got nothing.McGinn and Smith were found guilty Feb. 6.The former brokers' attorneys asked Hurd to sentence their clients to no more than single-digit prison sentences for their crimes, according to court documents unsealed last week at the request of the Times Union.The lawyers said the actions of McGinn and Smith were mistakes and poor business choices at a time when the American economy was being ravaged by a recession. They cast the convicted white-collar felons as hard-working professionals and shifted blame to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which in April 2010 froze the assets of the defendants' business at 99 Pine St. in Albany.In a July 24 sentencing memorandum to Hurd, Coombe said the "extremely high guidelines range here reflects the truly egregious nature of this fraud." She asked Hurd to "make plain to the community that pervasive and lengthy fraudulent schemes causing more than $30 million of loss to more than 800 victims, like those created by defendants, will result in very substantial periods of incarceration."McGinn was convicted on 27 of the 29 counts he faced; Smith on 15 of 28 counts. Both were convicted of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and failure to <<>> a tax return.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) Visit the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) at .timesunion.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉