Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that CARL IMMICH, formerly the property manager of Harriet Tubman Terrace Apartments, a Section 8 Housing Complex in Poughkeepsie, New York, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. United States District Judge Cathy Seibel imposed today’s sentence.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “Repeatedly and routinely, Carl Immich stole public money meant to subsidize housing for indigent tenants, and used it to dine out, travel, renovate his house, and play golf. For his brazen fraud, Immich was sentenced today to time in federal prison.”
According to the allegations contained in the Complaint, the Indictment, and statements made during court proceedings in the case:
Tubman Terrace is a large, low-income apartment complex in Poughkeepsie, New York. The rental payments for nearly all of the apartments are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) pursuant to Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, 42 U.S.C. § 1437f. From in or about June 2010 through in or about November 2014, HUD provided approximately $150,000 to $160,000 each month to Tubman Terrace.
From in or about 2009, Tubman Terrace was managed by a management company, of which IMMICH is the principal and sole owner. In that capacity, IMMICH served as the management agent and property manager of Tubman Terrace since in or about 2009.
From at least in or about December 2010 until at least in or about March 2015, IMMICH fraudulently obtained at least approximately $150,000 of HUD funds from the operating account of Tubman Terrace, which were paid to him or used for personal expenditures. IMMICH did so through as least three different schemes: (1) he used credit cards intended for Tubman Terrace business expenses for personal expenses, which were then paid through Tubman Terrace’s operating bank account; (2) he obtained check payments from the Tubman Terrace operating bank account to cover other personal expenses; and (3) he obtained payroll checks for himself and his daughter reflecting no work or other entitlement by them to such salary.
IMMICH, 54, of Rhinebeck, New York, pled guilty to theft concerning a program receiving government funds, and theft of government property. In addition to the prison sentence, IMMICH was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $150,001 in restitution.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the HUD Office of Inspector General.
