Owner of Eyewear Store Accussed of Taking $3.4 Million in Fraudulent Loans

"The owner of two Brooklyn eyeglass stores applied for and received more than $3.4 million in fraudulent loans, then spent much of the money shopping for his girlfriend at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman, paying rent on a Manhattan condominium and financing trips to Atlantic City casinos, prosecutors said on Wednesday," reports the New York Times. "The charges against the merchant, Maksim Grinberg, who operates D&M Optical and 9th Street Vision out of the same building at Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, were laid out in a 148-count indictment filed by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office and unsealed in State Supreme Court. Standing handcuffed, Mr. Grinberg, 43, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Wednesday. From 2010 to this year, Mr. Grinberg submitted applications to seven financial institutions, including arms of major banks like Wells Fargo, seeking loans he said would go toward buying medical equipment, according to the indictment." Read more.