New Guldi Trial Kicks Off; Lawyer Faces Mortgage Stacking Charges

Former Suffolk County Legislator George Guldi of Westhampton Beach is on trial in Riverhead for grand larceny with codefendant Brandon Lisi, 37, a Dix Hills attorney.  

Guldi, 57, who was previously in a separate trial for grand larceny and insurance fraud and was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison, is defending himself.

The latest trial, which commenced on Tuesday, relates to an alleged $82 million “mortgage stacking” scheme that authorities say Guldi was a central figure in.

Mortgage stacking is the practice of fraudulently obtaining multiple mortgages on one property by concealing outstanding loans.

Guldi was indicted in 2009 on nearly 110 charges related to the scheme and this latest case will focus on only a portion of those charges, which have since been consolidated to 34 charges.

In April, Judge James F.X. Doyle, who oversaw Guldi’s last trial, agreed to a district attorney request to split the indictment into three trials.

According to Bob Clifford, spokesman for the district attorney's office,  Doyle said that "the severance of the indictment into three separate trials will expedite the trial considering the court’s burgeoning calendar and is in the interests of justice."

The latest case will focus on four grand larceny counts with two of the counts stemming from allegations that Guidi and Lisi "stole more than one million dollars in mortgage proceeds in separate fraudulent transactions involving a commercial property at 53-55 Main Street in Cold Spring Harbor and a single family residence at 6 Union Street in Sag Harbor," according to Clifford.

The other two grand larceny counts relate to, according to Clifford, "charges against Guldi for the alleged theft of more than one million dollars from Wachovia Bank involving a mortgage in 2008 for a house at 2027 Deerfield Road in Southampton, and a charge of grand larceny in the second degree against Brandon Lisi for the attorney’s alleged theft of more than 50,000 dollars from JP Morgan Chase for an alleged mortgage fraud involving the purchase of a property at 33 Stuyvesant Street in Huntington."

The third trial, which will be heard after the completion of the second, said Clifford will focus on charges of grand larceny in the first and second degree and one count of first degree scheme to defraud against Guldi, , and his wife Carrie Coakle.

For an update on this story, click here.