Broker who stole $780K from Merrill Lynch pleads guilty

Former Merrill Lynch & Co. broker Steven Mandala, who was charged with stealing $780,000 from the firm, partly to buy a Ferrari, pleaded guilty to grand larceny and identity theft, his lawyer said. Mandala made the plea in New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan today and faces a prison sentence of two to six years. The Ferrari, for which Mandala paid $245,000, has been sold to help pay restitution, according to his attorney, Franklin Rothman. He still has about $378,000 to pay back, to be made in monthly payments after he's released from prison. A conviction on the grand larceny count could have carried a term of 15 years. While employed as a stockbroker with Maxim Group, Mandala falsely told Merrill, bought last year by Bank of America Corp., that he managed $300 million in assets and earned about $765,000 a year, well above his actual pay of about $100,000, according to a February statement from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.. Merrill hired Mandala in April 2009 and loaned him $780,000 to be paid back over eight years, according to the statement. “Somehow you got them to hire you because you told them you had big time clients?” acting state Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman said to Mandala in court, referring to Merrill Lynch. “I gave them some financial documents that supported my claims,” Mandala said. Mandala deposited the check from Merrill in his parents' bank account and used some of the funds to buy a Ferrari in his father's name, prosecutors said in the statement. He resigned less than two months after being hired, according to the statement. Mandala had been charged with grand larceny, money laundering, criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records and identity theft. He stole the identity of his ex-girlfriend's father and took out a line of credit.