Swingers Club Hunting Lodge Fraud Lands BK Couple Behind Bars: AG

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Two Brooklyn fraudsters faces jail time for trying to scam $1.3 million out of New York banks to fund a swingers club hunting lodge, the Attorney General's office announced Thursday.

The swinging couple — John Iacono, 46, and Shpresa Gjekovic, 32 — got up to eight and six years respectively for defrauding $1.3 million from New York banks then buying an upstate lodge, Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday.

“Let this serve as a warning to all of those who try to carry out such deliberate schemes,” stated James.

“There is no place in this state for individuals who try to cash in at the expense of hardworking New Yorkers.”

The couple used fake pay stubs, tax returns and forged cashier checks to apply for multiple loans between April 2016 and March 2017 and $125,000 in counterfeit checks to buy the cabin in Schoharie County, prosecutors said.

Iacono and Gjekovic said they planned to open a swingers' club in the Schoharie County property, but instead rented it out as a hunting lodge on AirBNB and promised clients proceeds would toward helping needy children, according to the attorney general's statement.

The pair was caught in December following a joint investigation from the Attorney General's office, the New York State Police Financial Crimes Unit and the Schoharie County District Attorney's office.

Iacono and Gjekovic pleaded guilty to residential mortgage fraud, money laundering and scheme to defraud on March 29.