Mypayrollhr sentencing to be open court
On August 4, fraud victims can see federal judge sentence CEO
Michael Mann, the onceunknown Clifton Park entrepreneur who orchestrated one of the biggest bank fraud schemes in Capital Region history, leading to the collapse of his payroll company Mypayrollhr, will be sentenced in-person in federal court in Albany on Aug. 4.
Federal prosecutors recently asked U.S. District Court Senior Judge Lawrence Kahn for the in-person sentencing that will allow any victims and the public to attend. Mann's attorney supported the move. The sentencing is scheduled for 11 a.m. that day at the James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse on Broadway in downtown Albany.
"The court agreed with the prosecution's request to have an in-person sentencing," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett said. "As always, the victims and members of the public are welcome to attend."
Until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and New York state began lifting pandemic restrictions recently, it was unclear how Mann's sentencing would take place and how much of the public would be able to attend.
Barnett said a large courtroom at the Foley courthouse will be used to allow as many people as possible to watch the
proceeding.
Mann is facing 17 years to 32 years in federal prison under sentencing guidelines after pleading guilty to 12 charges, including bank fraud, wire fraud, identity theft and filing false tax records.
Sentencing memos from both Mann's attorney, Michael Koenig, and the U.S. Attorney's office, in which each side makes a case for a certain sentence type and length, are due to Kahn by July 26.
Mann has cooperated with federal prosecutors and the FBI from the time of his arrest in September 2019.
Mann's case received nationwide attention when thousands of workers across the country failed to get paid around Labor Day 2019 when Mann's banks froze his accounts. That triggered the demise of Mypayrollhr's automated payroll and payroll tax processing services popular with small companies.
The Mypayrollhr collapse, however, was just one piece of Mann's fraud, which he had perpetuated for years by deceiving his banks and lenders with faked financial statements and invoices that made it seem as if another company that he owned was bringing in millions of dollars in consulting income when in fact it had no operations.
But Mann has been an enigma of sorts, even after admitting to his crimes last fall, since he put most of the ill-gotten money he borrowed to fund and create legitimate businesses and even a basketball academy he ran in Georgia and later North Carolina that was attended by Division I basketball prospects. But like Mypayrollhr, the basketball school, called Lincoln Academy, folded overnight, leaving several big-time athletes in the lurch.
It is unknown exactly how many victims there are officially, although many of the companies that used Mypayrollhr also became embroiled in tax cases when they failed to have their employees' payroll taxes sent to state tax agencies and the IRS.
But when Mann pleaded guilty last September, he was ordered to pay $101 million in restitution to his victims, although much of that is owed to a small number of banks, including Pioneer Bank of Colonie, where Mann kept many of his deposit accounts and had a $42 million line of credit.
Mann had lived on Great Sacandaga Lake until his guilty plea and later moved to North Carolina with his wife as he awaits sentencing.
He was also forced to forfeit $14 million he had in accounts with Bank of America, 30,000 shares of Pioneer Bank stock and a Jeep truck.
Many of the banks and businesses Mann did business with have also sued him and each other for their losses, leaving behind a trail of legal woes that is likely to stretch out long after Mann's sentencing.