By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A former Merrill Lynch broker allegedly faked his credentials to get a job there and purchased a Ferrari with the more than $780,000 he stole from the company, the district attorney announced Tuesday.
Steven Mandala, 29, of 450 W. 17th Street, submitted phony pay stubs and tax documents to get hired at Merrill Lynch and claimed to have managed $300 million in assets, prosecutors charged.
Mandala was hired by the firm on April 24, 2009. Almost immediately, he was loaned $780,000 by the company as an incentive for a new hire they believed would bring them high profits. Merrill also paid $4,500-per-month for his Chelsea condo.
Such advances are typical in the securities industry as a strategy to lure talent to the company, prosecutors said at his Supreme Court arraignment Tuesday.
A week after the money was issued, Mandala withdrew $245,580 to purchase the Italian sports car, but he stopped showing up for work within weeks of starting and resigned from his post via e-mail three months after he was hired.
Mandala left stolen credit cards belonging to his ex-girlfriend's father at his office, the indictment further said.
He is being held on $500,000 cash or bond bail. He was charged with grand larceny, money laundering, identity theft and other charges and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
