Andrew Lucas, center, then the Republican mayor of Manalapan, with then Freeholder John D’Amico and Amy Mallet, both Democrats, in September of 2010, seven months after Lucas purchased Burke Farm.
Former Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas is not disputing the facts that the federal government is presenting against him before a jury in Trenton.
Rather, Lucas is claiming the he made mistakes and lacked the training and expertise to accurately prepare the documents he submitted to obtain his financing for the purchase of the 97 acre Burke Farm in Manalapan, according to the Asbury Park Press’s coverage of his trial.
Lucas is defending against 11 felony charges including wire fraud, loan application fraud, illegal monetary transaction, false statements to the IRS, aggravated identity theft, obstruction of a grand jury investigation and falsification of records in a federal investigation.
If convicted on all 11 counts against him, Lucas, 37, could be sentenced to more than 60 years in federal prison.
Closing arguments are expected to be made today.
Posted: September 17th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Andrew Lucas, Crime, Crime and Punishment, New Jersey, News | Tags: Andrew Lucas, Andrew Lucas trial, Burke Farm, Farmland Preservation, Lucas Farm Deal, Manalapan, New Jersey, Open space | 6 Comments »
Andrew Lucas, center, then the Republican mayor of Manalapan, with then Freeholder John D’Amico and Amy Mallet, both Democrats, in September of 2010, seven months after Lucas purchased Burke Farm.
Former Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas took the stand in his federal trial on fraud charges yesterday, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press.
Lucas acknowledged that he had made “egregious errors” in his loan application for financing to purchase Burke Farm, a 97 acre parcel of which he later sold the development rights to the New Jersey Farmland Preservation Program for $1.16 million. The funding for the farmland preservation deal came from the taxpayers of Manalapan, Monmouth County and the State of New Jersey.
During his full day of testimony, Lucas explained that he made his errors in haste to get the loan funded before the lender, Central Jersey Bank, was acquired by Kearny Federal Saving Bank, not part of a complicated criminal scheme to defraud the lender who did not lose any money on the transaction.
Lucas explained that the discrepancies in his income tax returns for 2007 and 2008 he submitted to the bank were the result of adjustments made to the returns after an IRS audit which was completed two days after he was approved for the loan and to glitches in his tax preparation software. He said he did not disclose the changes in his tax returns to the bank, as required, because he “did not read the fine print.”
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Posted: September 16th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Andrew Lucas, Manalapan, Monmouth County, New Jersey, News | Tags: Andrew Lucas, Andrew Lucas trial, Burke Farm, Lucas Farm Deal, Lucas land deal, New Jersey | Comments Off on Lucas takes the stand
Andrew Lucas, center, then the Republican mayor of Manalapan, with then Freeholder John D’Amico and Amy Mallet, both Democrats, in September of 2010, seven months after Lucas purchased Burke Farm.
Jury selection is scheduled to start tomorrow in the case of the United States of America vs Andrew Lucas, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press. The trial is scheduled to start on Monday, September 8.
The former Manalapan mayor was indicted in February on fraud charges for allegedly falsifying documents to obtain financing for the purchase of a 97 acre farm in the township. He later sold the development rights to that farm to New Jersey’s farmland preservation program for $1,158 million. After an exhaustive investigation, no charges were filed concerning the farmland preservation transaction, but the investigation led to alleged irregularities in Lucas’s financial records and documents provided to a lender and an investor in his acquisition of the land.
Lucas is looking forward to his trail. His attorney, Mario F. Gallucci, told the app, “Andrew Lucas has been looking forward to this day. He finds it unfortunate that he has to defend what he believes were legal actions that he took, and he can’t wait for his day in court.”
If convicted on all 11 counts against him, Lucas, 37, could be sentenced to more than 60 years in federal prison.
Lucas has been subject to home detention and electronic monitoring since posting $500,000 bail in February.
Posted: September 2nd, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Andrew Lucas, News | Tags: Andrew Lucas, Andrew Lucas trial, Burke Farm, Farmland Preservation, Lucas Farm Deal, Manalapan | 14 Comments »
