The former owner of a Great Neck car dealership was sentenced to four years in prison for cheating Long Islanders – including two former New York Islander hockey players- out of $10 million.
Rick Cohen, 51 of Syosset, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert to serve five years of supervised release and make restitution to the people he cheated out of the money.
Seybert reportedly allowed the beginning of Cohen’s prison sentence be delayed by one year so that he could be with his teenage son before he begins college.
Cohen faced between 11 and 13 years in prison for charges of conspiracy, bank, mail and wire fraud, according to federal prosecutors.
U.S. Eastern District Attorney Christopher Ott said Cohen told buyers at North Shore Motor Group, formerly located at 241 East Shore Road, that they would be able to buy a car by financing the purchase with a short-term loan.
Cohen instead, according to Ott, signed the buyers up for long-term car loans and pocketed the money by changing the address on the loan papers to that of his business.
Two of the victims – Mike Comrie and Mark Streit – played for the Islanders at the time of the sale.
Comrie reportedly bought a Mercedes from the dealership and Streit purchased a $60,000 and a $70,000 Mercedes.
Efforts to reach Joseph Conway, Cohen’s lawyer, for comment on the sentencing, were unavailing.
