DA says HSBC Officer Lent $2M to Fake Firms

A former loan officer for HSBC bank in Valley Stream was arrested yesterday and charged with lending money to phony companies, knowing that the companies would never repay their debts, Nassau prosecutors said.

Mohammed Rizvi, 35, of Dix Hills, a native of Pakistan, lent about $2 million of HSBC's money to fake companies, saying he had been about to check out the businesses, but he never did, prosecutors said. The companies, which were incorporated on paper but did not physically exist, were all owned by Pakistani citizens, said Diane Peress, economic crimes bureau chief for the Nassau district attorney's office. She said her office is still looking into how the money was used.

Rizvi was charged with second-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud, and first-degree falsifying of business records. He was arraigned yesterday in First District Court in Hempstead, and was being held on $250,000 bail. His lawyer, Nancy Bartling, could not be reached.