Lisa McAlister, former ARCP exec, avoids prison

The former chief accounting officer for American Realty Capital Properties Inc. escaped a prison sentence after prosecutors said she was instrumental in the conviction of the firm's CFO in an accounting scandal that led to the unraveling of real estate investor Nicholas Schorsch's empire. Lisa McAlister was sentenced to time served, according to a decision by Judge J. Paul Oetken in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to a court filing. In June 2016, Ms. McAlister pleaded guilty to four counts, including conspiring to commit securities fraud and securities fraud, when she and two other ARCP executives inflated key cash flow metrics by $23 million as they finished the company's financial statements for the previous quarter and six months of the year. One of those executives, Brian Block, ARCP's former chief financial officer, was found guilty last June by a federal jury in New York of securities fraud and related charges. In November, Mr. Block was sentenced to 18 months in prison, a $100,000 fine and supervised release of three years, on his conviction of six counts of fraud. He is currently appealing his conviction. Ms. McAlister was the star witness in the prosecution's case against Mr. Block, whose attorneys attempted to portray her as a liar who would testify to almost anything to protect her family. "McAlister provided substantial assistance in the investigation of ARCP accounting fraud and the prosecution of Block," according to a court filing by the U.S. attorney's office. "After McAlister pleaded guilty in June 2016, she continued to meet with the Government on numerous occasions in order to continue to assist with the investigation and prepare for trial." As part of her sentencing, she will be under supervised release for a year but will be allowed to travel throughout the United States without prior travel approval, according to the court filing. Last August, the Securities and Exchange Commission permanently suspended Ms. McAlister. Mr. Schorsch no longer is involved with ARCP, which is now called Vereit Inc.