MAN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS' IMPRISONMENT IN BANK FRAUD AND BANKRUPTCY FRAUD CASE

Rochester, N.Y.--Tyler Jay Halperyn, 61, of Pittsford, N.Y., who was convicted of one count of bank loan application fraud and one count of bankruptcy fraud upon a guilty plea in May 2007, was sentenced to 37 months' in prison and ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa, U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn of the Western District of New York announced today.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who handled the case, stated that in 1998, the defendant knowingly gave a false social security number and a false year of birth in connection with a loan application to Key Bank and the Small Business Administration. In 2004, the defendant filed for bankruptcy and falsely declared under penalty of perjury that his statement of financial affairs in connection with his bankruptcy petition was true. An investigation revealed that the defendant had falsely represented in his statement of financial affairs that he did not have any ownership interests in business entities when in truth he had various ownership interests in a number of entities including, but not limited to, Tyler Jay Art, Antiques, and Collectibles, Inc., Tyler Jay Art, Antiques, and Collectibles, Inc., d/b/a Style De Vie, Tyler Jay High Yield Fund, Inc., and Falls Die Cut & Assembly Corp., d/b/a Falls Wood Products/Falls Industrial Products.

The conviction was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Laurie Bennett.