Former Manalapan Mayor Sentenced To Five Years In Prison In Fraud Case

A former Manalapan mayor has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for defrauding an investment client out of $250,000 and submitting a falsified loan application to buy farmland, authorities said.

Following a two-week trial, Andrew Lucas, 37, was convicted by a federal jury on all 11 counts of an indictment that charged him with wire fraud, an illegal monetary transaction, loan application fraud, false statements to the IRS, aggravated identity theft, obstruction of a grand jury investigation and falsification of records in a federal investigation.

U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson, sitting in Trenton, imposed the 60-month prison term Friday, according to a news release from Paul J. Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

The judge also ordered Lucas to serve three years of supervised release once his completes his prison term, and she ordered him to forfeit the farmland, the news release said.

According to documents and evidence presented at trial:

On Dec.15, 2009, Lucas applied for a $525,000 loan to buy the Burke Farm in Manalapan, but he gave the bank falsified versions of two of his tax returns, and a falsified version of a tax return for a relative whose name was also on the loan application. He also falsely reported that he had $210,000 in cash.

Lucas owned and operated Lucas Capital Advisors LLC. He served as an investment advisor and manager, and to get a $250,000 down payment for the property, Lucas approached a client of his company and pitched an investment in VLM Investments LLC.

On Feb. 15, 2010, Lucas gave a note to that client that said the $250,000 investment was to be secured by “...interest in the equipment, fixtures, inventory and accounts receivable” of VLM, but VLM did not yet exist.

Three days later, Lucas created that company, using the personal information of a relative without that man’s permission or knowledge.

Nor did Lucas tell the client that he planned to use the funds for himself.

On Feb. 22, 2010, Lucas authorized the wiring of $250,000 from the client’s investment account to a VLM bank account. Then, on March 1, 2010, Lucas withdrew the money in the form of a bank check, and used it for the purchase of the Burke Farm property.

Lucas also filed tax returns for VLM for 2011 and 2012 using his relative’s name and Social Security number without that man’s knowledge or permission.

When federal investigators served Lucas with subpoenas in February 2013, he gave them “a fabricated and back-dated letter purporting to be from (his relative) concerning a transaction for the purchase of the Burke Farm property.”

Fishman credited special agents of the FBI Red Bank Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel; special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen; and investigators with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, for their work on the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Skahill in Camden and Rahul Agarwal in Newark, both of the U.S. Attorney’s Special Prosecutions Division, handled the government’s case.