United States v. John Lee Molinaro, United States of America v. Donald P. Mangano, Sr., United States of America v. Donald P. Mangano, Sr.

John Molinaro and Donald Mangano appeal their convictions of bank fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344 and conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 . Molinaro also appeals his conviction of making false entries in the books and records of a savings and loan association in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1006 .

I. Factual Background

The charges arose out of several transactions involving the Ramona Savings and Loan, a federally insured savings and loan owned by appellant Molinaro.

The government’s principal claim is that appellants concealed Mangano’s role as the purchaser of 173 units in Cherokee Village, a failing 180 unit condominium project, sold to Mangano by Ramona. The government claimed appellants concealed the fact that Mangano was the purchaser to avoid scrutiny of the transaction by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which was on the verge of taking over Ramona because of its precarious financial position resulting from Ramona’s inability to sell the condominiums in which it had invested over $25,000,000. The federal regulators had expressed concern over Ramona’s heavy concentration of assets in real estate development projects. The sale of…