July 31--A politically connected businessman was sentenced to more than five years in prison Thursday for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in financing on luxury car leases at his suburban leasing agency.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber handed down a sentence of 63 months for Marc Zaransky, a former consultant for CAR Leasing in Lincolnwood who pleaded guilty last year to charges alleging he defrauded creditors of about $2.5 million by misrepresenting how the money was used.
It was the third time Zaransky has been given a prison term for a federal fraud conviction in two decades. His first was the most notable: He bribed then-Cook County Undersheriff James Dvorak for steering him a lucrative contract.
In 2000, Zaransky was sentenced to almost four years in prison for defrauding banks out of more than $5 million in another scheme related to his car-leasing business. At the time, he admitted he owed $600,000 in Las Vegas gambling debts.
As part of his sentencing in that case, a federal judge barred Zaransky from handling the finances of any auto-related company or being directly involved with any bank transactions stemming from auto sales or leases, records show.
But soon after his release from prison in 2003, Zaransky landed a sales position at CAR Leasing, where he arranged luxury vehicle leases for politicians, including Secretary of State Jesse White, according to records.
According to the latest indictment in 2013, Zaransky financed loans for autos through Wells Fargo Auto Finance and U.S. Bank, but after the dealerships sent the cars, Zaransky withheld payment and the titles were never sent to the banks. Zaransky instead used the money "for his own purposes," authorities alleged.
In pleading guilty in December, Zaransky admitted he also financed a deal to buy eight used cars from dealerships that he later sold to CAR Leasing customers. Instead of using the proceeds to pay down the loans, Zaransky kept the cash, his plea agreement said.
Prosecutors wrote in a recent court filing that Zaransky had "a golden opportunity" to turn his life around after his second conviction but chose "to commit an identical fraud."
Zaransky was sentenced in 1994 to a month in prison and five months of home confinement for bribing Dvorak and an aide, records show. Also convicted was Zaransky's brother, Michael, an Illinois Gaming Board member and former chairman of the Chicago Convention and Visitors Bureau.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
