Press release
BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Marc I. Korn, 62, of East Amherst, NY, who was convicted of bank theft and willful failure to pay tax, was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison by Senior U.S. District Judge William S. Skretny. The defendant will also pay over $2,500,000 in restitution to three different private entities along with approximately $850,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth R. Moellering, who handled the case, stated that Korn was the former owner of the Batavia Nursing Home in Batavia, NY, and the Fairchild Manor Nursing Home in Lewiston, NY. The defendant committed bank theft in connection with his actions concerning a credit card and loan from Fifth Third Bank. He also failed to pay over employment taxes related to his nursing homes over three quarters in 2009.
In 2008, Korn sought a loan to refinance the Batavia Nursing Home from Fifth Third Bank. In June 2008, Fifth Third Bank provided $3,900,000 to refinance the nursing home and provided the defendant with a credit card. As part of the application for the loan, Korn submitted a personal financial statement and guaranty on which the bank relied when underwriting the loan. The statement contained numerous falsehoods, including the overvaluation of his primary residence. The defendant stated that the property was valued at $1,465,000 when, at the same time, he was contesting its value with the Town of Amherst for purposes of property taxes, alleging it was worth between $500,000 and $550,000. Additionally, Korn provided the bank with statements of bank accounts that he claimed to own. However those statements also contained falsehoods – including one statement in which the defendant claimed ownership of an account containing $50,000 in February 2008, when the account actually contained $1.00 and belonged to someone else. The loan and payments on the credit card went into default, and Fifth Third Bank lost more than $2,400,000.
Prior to March 2009, for both Batavia Nursing Home and Fairchild Manor Nursing Home, Korn used a service to collect and pay over employment taxes owed. However, beginning in March 2009, the defendant ceased using the service and subsequently intentionally failed to pay to the IRS employment taxes owed for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2009. Instead of paying the taxes owed to the IRS, Korn spent the funds on personal expenses including restaurants, hockey tickets, jewelry, and to pay his children’s college tuition.
Today’s sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert, and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations Division, under the direction of Jonathan D. Larsen, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Office.