NEWARK—An Englewood real estate developer has admitted guilt in a conspiracy to make false entries to deceive a financial institution and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the United States Department of Justice said April 12.
The developer James Demetrakis, 79, faces five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when sentenced July 23. Between January 2008 and December 2013, Demetrakis conspired with real estate developer Fred Daibes—who was also founder and chairman of Mariner’s Bancorp—and Michael McManus to “orchestrate a nominee loan scheme,” federal prosecutors said. Charges against McManus and Daibes are still pending.
The scheme was “designed to circumvent the lending limits by ensuring that millions of dollars in loans flowed from Mariner’s Bank to the nominees to Daibes, while concealing from both Mariner’s Bank and the FDIC Daibes’ beneficial interest in those loans,” the DOJ said.
“Daibes and the nominees, including Demetrakis, failed to disclose to Mariner’s Bank that Daibes arranged to make both the interest and principal payments on the loans,” the DOJ said. “Daibes and McManus were indicted Oct. 30, 2018, on conspiracy and bank fraud charges, which remain pending.”
Daibes’ attorney Lawrence S. Lustberg told NJ.com: “Mr. Daibes continues to assert his innocence and is confident he will be vindicated when his matter is fully and fairly litigated,” the website reported.
“Daibes, well known for his work in towns along the Hudson River known as the Gold Coast, was also the founder and chairman of Mariner’s Bank, which handled the loans,” NJ.com reported.
Among its many property projects, Daibes Enterprises unloaded a long-stalled development in Norwood, at the former Cost Cutters property in 2016, after a rebuild of the site had sat stagnant for years, despite gaining initial local approvals.