United States v. St. Lawrence, et al., 16 Cr. 259 (CS)

On April 14, 2016, an indictment charging Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence and N. Aaron Troodler, the former Executive Director of the Ramapo Local Development Corporation ("RLDC"), with 22 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud was unsealed in federal court in White Plains, New York. According to the Indictment, the defendants lied about the Town’s and RLDC’s financial conditions in order to ensure successful sales of municipal bonds issued by the Town and the RLDC and to get better ratings on those bonds so that the Town and the RLDC would have to pay less interest on the bonds. The defendants and their co-conspirators made up fake assets for the Town; inflated the values of other assets; hid the fact the Town owed money to a civil engineer; and fraudulently transferred millions from other funds into the Town’s General Fund in violation of state law. They also claimed that the RLDC was paying off its bonds from its operating revenue – in other words, money it was making from its regular business operations – when, in fact, it was paying off its bonds with money it borrowed from the bank, money it got from the Town to reimburse it for other things or money it got from one-time sales of land. As a result of the fraud, the investors were not paid the amount of interest that fully compensated them for the risk they were taking.

On March 7, 2017, Troodler pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud. On April 19, 2017, St. Lawrence went to trial.

On May 19, the jury found him guilty of 20 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud. It acquitted him of one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud.

September 28, 2017 at 10:30 AM – St. Lawrence sentencing before the Hon. Cathy Seibel at the federal courthouse in White Plains.

October 23, 2017 at 3:30 PM – Troodler sentencing before the Hon. Cathy at the federal courthouse in White Plains.