Wyckoff Man Gets 12 Years For Mortgage Fraud, Tax Evasion

WYCKOFF, NJ — A township man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding banks out of $1.1 million and not paying $450,000 in income taxes.

Mark Andreotti, 47, was previously convicted on six counts of a federal indictment charging him with bank fraud, tax evasion and failure to file tax returns, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Andreotti applied for and received $625,000 in 2010 to refinance the mortgage on his township home. Andreotti owned and operated Metropolitan Title and Abstract and used the company as the settlement agent on the transaction.

After the bank transferred the money into the company's escrow account, Andreotti used it to pay for "personal expenses," Carpenito announced.

Andreotti conspired with a real estate attorney to obtain $480,000 by claiming that it would be used to refinance the money on the attorney's Montville home. The bank transferred the money and Andreotti kept $110,000 for himself before giving the rest to the attorney.

Andreotti owned five rental properties and had several tax liens and levies filed against him. He evaded paying $450,000 in taxes and did not even file income tax returns in 2010 and 2011, Carpenito said.

In addition to the prison term, Andreotti was ordered to pay $2.1 million in restitution and sentenced to five years of supervised release.

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