Guldi gets 1 to 3 years in mortgage fraud

The mortgage fraud case against former Suffolk Legis.  George Guldi ended quietly Wednesday when he was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison for his role in one of the largest mortgage fraud rings ever on Long Island.

Suffolk County Court Judge James F.X. Doyle ordered the sentence to run concurrently with the 4 to 12 years he's already serving for an insurance fraud conviction. That means Guldi, a Democrat, will not serve more time for the mortgage fraud scam, which Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota estimated bilked banks out of $80 million.

"We're disappointed," said Assistant District Attorney Thalia Stavrides, who sought a sentence of 81/3 to 25 years in prison and asked that it run consecutive to the insurance fraud sentence.  "We felt he deserved far more. "

Doyle said the mortgage fraud did serious damage to the banks. "There's no question that an enormous amount of economic dislocation was created by this defendant," Doyle said. The judge declined to impose restitution on Guldi, who could have been held responsible for repaying more than $30 million.

  He said the civil courts handling the numerous lawsuits against Guldi were better able to determine what he should pay -- and he said he hoped Guldi and his co-defendants do pay some day. "The proper forum is not here," Doyle said.

Guldi, who is from Westhampton Beach, addressed some procedural issues in court, but did not speak about the crimes he committed.

When he pleaded guilty, he admitted committing dozens of frauds by diverting money to himself and his co-defendants by using straw buyers to obtain fraudulent mortgages on more than 60 properties across Suffolk County. Guldi, an attorney, was disbarred after his insurance fraud conviction this spring.

One of his co-defendants, former attorney Brandon Lisi, also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced later. Two others, dominatrix Carrie Coakley, 40, and her husband, Donald MacPherson, 67, are both scheduled to be in court Thursday. Many of the straw buyers were recruited at The Dungeon in Manhattan, where Coakley was in charge.