The owner of a Long Island school bus company who used a check-kiting scheme to defraud banks out of nearly $10 million was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Wednesday.
John Mensch, 55, of Quogue, owner of the former East End Bus Lines, will also be required to pay $9.3 million in restitution to a pair of banks he admitted defrauding.
“Mensch kept a failing business afloat by manipulating the banking system and exploiting the trust that financial institutions place in their customers,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “By cycling worthless checks through multiple bank accounts, the defendant obtained millions of dollars in funds that did not exist, creating the illusion of…