After leaving buyers without the new homes he promised, Shawn VanVeghten’s sentencing for two felony counts was announced by the New York State’s attorney general and police superintendent.
The court convicted VanVeghten of scheming to defraud in the first degree and second-degree money laundering. From 2016 to 2020, the 39-year old resident of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., stole over $1 million and faces a minimum of two years and four months and up to seven years in prison. He pled guilty to the charges on Dec. 22, 2020.
“New Yorkers spend their lives saving for their dream home, so those who steal only to leave our state’s residents struggling to keep a roof over their heads will see the full force of our office come down on them,” New York
Through his two Wilton, N.Y.-based construction companies, VanVeghten Construction and Union Modular Homes, VanVeghten defrauded borrowers who paid him to build their houses and a lender that financed his projects. He also failed to pay the contractors and material suppliers he hired.
Instead, he used the stolen funds to buy and renovate an investment property for himself, pay down his own mortgage, rent office space, and spend on entertainment, dining and clothes. Later, he took nearly $200,000 from a disabled family member’s special needs trust to replenish some of the misappropriated funds. His victims will get their losses back, including $100,000 in restitutions up-front.
