NYU Senior To Miss Graduation Due to $43 Million Bank Fraud

An NYU senior with a major in math was arrested in his family Pound Ridge, NY home when bank and postal officials discovered he had been shuffling about $43 million in fake, certified check between banks in Greenwich, CT, and Switzerland, where there are many, many banks. Hakan Yalincak opened up a number of fake corporations and deposited fake checks into the bank accounts here and overseas. With millions in "phantom money" in each, he then transferred $2.5 million to a new account in Greenwich. It was when he tried to withdraw $1.7 million that Yalincak was caught, with bank officials wise to his scheme. At the court hearing, where his mother was weeping, the judge said that Yalincak had to stay in a Providence detention center until a hearing on Thursday, and Yalincak wailed, "I have a graduation on Wednesday." The Daily News had this comment from a twentysomething NYU alum: "Obviously, they're teaching them something at NYU."

The sop in this story is that his parents, Dr. Omer Bulent Yalincak and Ayferafet Yalincak, had just donated over $20 million for an "Ottoman studies professorship" at NYU. The parents are also being sued, along with their son, in a separate civil matter about investors being frauded in some other incident (Gothamist isn't sure if it was another of their son's schemes gone wrong). Yalincak's defense lawyer said, "I think it's unfortunate when you have a young person with a very bright future, finds himself in this type of situation. A 21-year-old college student should have to worry about far less weighty matters." Yeah, well, if the authorities have the facts, then Gothamist only wants to say, "Hey, asshole, isn't being comfortable and privileged enough?"