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Former Legislator George Guldi at a 2018 court appearance.
George Guldi, a former Suffolk County legislator representing the South Fork and one-time Westhampton Beach resident, along with an accomplice, has been convicted of defrauding Ditech Financial LLC, a mortgage lender, out of more than $250,000, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced on Wednesday, January 25.
Said Williams: “George Guldi, while in prison, concocted and conducted a scheme along with his co-conspirator, Victoria Davidson, to brazenly steal more than $250,000 through blatant lies. Today, a jury held them accountable for their scheme, and they will both face justice for their shameless misconduct.”
In February 2017, Ditech Financial LLC received a payment of approximately $250,000 from JPMorgan Chase in connection with the settlement of a lawsuit between several financial institutions. Ditech mistakenly treated the funds as a payment from Guldi toward his own mortgage, and it sent him a letter that March stating that it would not credit the payment because he owed more than the payment amount.
Guldi, 69, now a resident of Ludlow, Vermont, was in prison at the time, serving a four-to-12-year sentence for insurance-related offenses, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York. He knew that he had not actually sent any money to Ditech, then enlisted Davidson, 57, of Lakeville, Connecticut, in a scheme, according to authorities.
Calling Davidson from prison, Guldi directed her to try to “break” the funds “loose.” The call was recorded.
Williams said during the ensuing weeks, Davidson called Ditech at least 19 times, telling multiple lies in an effort to get the money. She said she was an attorney and an officer in Guldi’s company. Turning the tables, she also said Guldi sent the money to Ditech accidentally and wanted it back.
By April, Davidson’s lies had worked. Ditech wired the funds to her personal bank account. Within two weeks, most of the money was gone. Davidson drained the funds out of her account, paying various expenses for herself and Guldi and purchasing multiple cashier’s checks. Within months, it was all gone.
Guldi and Davidson were each convicted of federal felonies: one count each of bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.
The conspiracy and bank fraud counts carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and the wire fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Guldi is scheduled to be sentenced on May 30 and Davidson on May 31.
A disbarred attorney, Guldi served eight years as a Suffolk County legislator — from 1995 until 2003, when then-East Hampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman bested Guldi in his campaign for reelection to the legislature.
Prior state grand larceny charges, filed in 2011, found Guldi guilty of an $82 million mortgage scam, which he pleaded guilty to in 2017. He was also found to have pocketed approximately $870,000 in insurance payouts, which were issued to either rebuild his Westhampton Beach home after it burned down or pay off the $1.2 million that was owed on his outstanding mortgage.
The Griffing Avenue home later went into foreclosure and was torn down by the village in 2015 after becoming an eyesore.
