Upstate NY man convicted in construction fraud scheme
Updated Dec 23, 2020;
By Wendy Liberatore | Times Union, Albany
After bilking home buyers, business owners and lenders out of more than $1 million, a Saratoga Springs man pleaded guilty to money laundering and scheme to defraud on Tuesday in Saratoga County Court, state Attorney General Letitia James said.
Shawn M. VanVeghten, 39, faces three to nine years in prison for the Ponzi-like scheme that including defrauding a beneficiary of a special needs trust, James said in a press release. It was all done to finance his own personal and business expenses, leaving his victims “in financial distress .... without the ability to get into their homes when promised, if ever at all” James stated. " Shawn VanVeghten stole and defrauded more than a million dollars from New Yorkers and left home buyers, workers, and other victims in the lurch. “For years, his victims scraped and saved to afford their dream homes, but VanVeghten’s crimes left them locked out.”