Longmeadow residents Jeffrey Stream, Lawrence Vincent, and Israel Schepps pleaded guilty to inflating assets and falsifying documents in order to gain approval for $9 million in credit from TD Bank
SPRINGFIELD - The three owners of the since-closed Mastex Industries pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a fraudulently obtaining a $9 million line of credit, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Longmeadow residents Jeffrey Stream, 53, Lawrence Vincent, 61, and Israel Schepps, 53, accepted a plea a single count of defrauding TD Bank, from 2006-09, by inflating assets and falsifying documents in order to extend its credit line.
The company, which manufactured the cloth that was used primarily in automobile airbags, closed down suddenly in 2009, shortly after the fraud was discovered.
Eighty people lost their jobs.
Prosecutors introduced evidence showing the owners intentionally overstated inventory by $2 million and accounts receivable by $6 million. By the end of the three-year period, the three had overstated assets by $11 million.
If convicted, Stream, Lawrence and Schepps each face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.