Steven Mandala, a former stockbroker with Merrill Lynch & Co., was sentenced to two to six years in prison for stealing $780,000 from the company. He reportedly used the money to buy himself a Ferrari.

 

Mandala pleaded guilty May 19 in New York State Supreme Court to charges of grand larceny and identity theft. He was accused of falsifying information about his education and work experience in order to land a job with Merrill Lynch.

 

Mandala reportedly gave Merrill fake pay stubs, tax returns and a W-2 form to support a series of lies about the profits he made for his former employer, Maxim Group, a brokerage firm where he previously worked as a stockbroker. Mandala also falsely told Merrill that he was a partner at Maxim and managed $300 million in client assets. He also lied about his production levels, saying that he produced $1.5 million in revenue for which he received $765,000 in compensation. Based on those fabrications, Merrill hired Mandala and gave him a $780,000 loan that was to be repaid over an eight-year period. Mandala deposited the money into his parent’s account and later used $245,000 to purchase a red 2006 Spider Ferrari in his father’s name.

 

In his first two months, Mandala was repeatedly absent at his new job and brought in only two or three clients with a total of $20,000 in assets. By June 29, 2009, he resigned from his banking position. In the criminal indictment, Mandala was accused of assuming the identify of his ex-girlfriend’s father in order to use his credit card to buy goods and services.