Ex-NY real estate mogul gets up to 8 years' prison

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Adam Hochfelder, a former New York City real estate developer, was sentenced on Monday to between 2-2/3 and 8 years in prison in connection with the theft of more than $18 million from banks, business associates, friends and family.

Justice Michael Obus of the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan imposed the sentence on Hochfelder, 39, a former chief executive of Max Capital Management Corp.

The defendant pleaded guilty in May to 15 counts of grand larceny and three counts of scheming to defraud. He also agreed at the time to pay $9.5 million in restitution.

"Hochfelder held himself out as a legitimate businessperson while systematically violating his victims' trust," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement.

Prosecutors had sought a 4- to 12-year prison term, while the defense had sought a 2- to 6-year term.

"We're very pleased and grateful for the sentence." said Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer at Brafman & Associates PC representing Hochfelder, in an interview. "It is the victims' support that drove the sentence."

Hochfelder is in custody and is not appealing the sentence, Agnifilo said.

In separate indictments in 2008 and this year, prosecutors filed a combined 89 criminal charges against Hochfelder.

Prosecutors accused the resident of Manhattan's Upper East Side of obtaining roughly $16 million of personal loans from Bank of America Corp, North Fork Bank and others, including by forging documents and misrepresenting his holdings and liquidity.

They said Hochfelder also tricked investors into providing roughly $2.5 million to invest in the Sagamore Hotel on Lake George and The Peaks Resort and Spa in Telluride, Colorado.

Hochfelder spent some of this money on personal drivers, private jets, private school for his children and other expenses, including legal bills, prosecutors said.

The case is New York v. Hochfelder, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, Nos. 01979-2008 and 00050-2010.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)