NEW YORK – Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau Wednesday announced the arrest and indictment of a former real estate executive at Max Capital Management Corporation for stealing more than $17 million from a number of banks and individuals.

The defendant, Adam Hochfelder, 37, has been indicted on six counts of Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a class B Felony, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison; two counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison; 24 counts of Forgery in the Second Degree, a class D Felony, which is punishable by up to 7 years in prison; 24 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, one count each of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree and Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, all class E Felonies, punishable by up to four years in prison.  The crimes charged in the indictment occurred between October 2002 and February 2008.

Hochfelder worked as chairman and chief executive officer of Max Capital Management Corporation, which he co-founded in 1996 with Richard Kalikow, until the end of 2004. In 2002, Hochfelder purchased Kalikow’s share of the business, and entered into a partnership with Anthony Westreich. Under the new partnership, Max Capital was a privately held commercial landlord and real estate firm in New York City. In 2004, the partnership between Hochfelder and Westreich dissolved.

The investigation leading to Wednesday’s events revealed that from October 2002 to March 2007, Hochfelder took on a series of personal loans from business partners, family, friends, and banks totaling over $17 million by misrepresenting the value of his personal and professional holdings.  In January 2003, he applied for and was granted a $5 million dollar personal loan from North Fork Bank. In April 2003, he obtained an additional $5 million personal loan from Bank of America.

Unknown to both banks, he provided them with forged documents reflecting false information regarding his liquidity and assets. In these documents Hochfelder inflated some, and entirely created other, equity interests in property he never owned or in which he had little to no interest at all. He also repeatedly forged the signature of his business partner, Anthony Westreich, claiming that Max Capital and its partners agreed to allow the business’s income stream to be used as collateral for the loans.