Ex-Furniture Company Exec Pleads Guilty to $18M Loan Fraud

 A former chief financial officer of a New Jersey-based furniture company and an affiliated Indiana company has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges.

Manhattan federal prosecutors say Norman D'Souza conspired to get $17 million in loans illegally from a Manhattan bank and $1 million in municipal loans from Gas City, Indiana.

Sentencing for the 50-year-old Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, resident was set for July.

A plea agreement calls for him to be sentenced to about four or five years in prison. Without it, his plea to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud could have resulted in up to 50 years in prison.

D'Souza, who is free on $100,000 bail, admitted making false statements about his companies' financial condition to get the business loans.