A Yardley, Pennsylvania, man was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for using his position at a Freehold office equipment leasing company to defraud clients out of more than $600,000, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Jason Lee Lum, 36, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson to an information charging him with wire fraud. Judge Thompson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Lee Lum was a partner at Company 1, which provided office equipment leasing services. Due to the high cost of leasing office equipment, Company 1 would obtain loans for its clients through a financing company. After a client agreed to lease office equipment, a Company 1 employee would submit the lease agreement paperwork to the financing company in order to obtain a loan for the client. If the financing company approved the loan, it would send the loan proceeds directly to Company 1’s bank account. The client would then receive the leased office equipment and would directly repay the loan to the financing company.
As a partner at Company 1, Lee Lum was responsible for Company 1’s finances and for submitting client loan documentation. From October 2011 through May 2012, Lee Lum forged signatures of existing company clients on loan documents and then submitted the documents to the financing company. The clients had neither approved nor consented to the loan documents being submitted, nor did they obtain office equipment in connection with the fraudulent loan applications. When the financing company approved the fraudulent loan applications, Lee Lum directed the proceeds to be sent to Company 1’s bank account, which he controlled. Lee Lum used the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds to pay personal expenses, company payroll (including his own salary) and to increase the company’s revenue for accounting purposes. Lee Lum sought to conceal his fraud by making payments on the fraudulently obtained loans. When Lee Lum began to fall behind on those payments, the financing company that issued the loans sought payment directly from the Company 1’s clients, whose names were on the fraudulent loans.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Thompson ordered Lee Lum to serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution of $692,797.15.