Kathy Mott Case: Check-Kiting Plea, Sentencing, and Recovery

Katherine “Kathy” Mott-Formicola, a former Rochester-area restaurateur and wedding venue operator, pleaded guilty in federal court in December 2024 to running a check-kiting scheme that cost Five Star Bank close to $19 million. The Kathy Mott case is still open at sentencing: her hearing has been postponed three times while she cooperates with federal investigators, and she is now scheduled to be sentenced on July 14, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.¹²

How the Scheme Worked

Between November 29, 2022, and March 11, 2024, Mott-Formicola exploited the gap between when a bank credits a deposited check and when it actually verifies the funds behind it. She held 10 business accounts at Five Star Bank and seven at Kinecta Federal Credit Union. She wrote checks from accounts at one institution and deposited them into accounts at the other. When a bank flagged insufficient funds, she wrote more checks to cover the shortfall. The cycle ran for 15 months.¹

The numbers grew. According to a report by court-appointed receiver Mark R. Kercher, individual transactions started around $400,000 and eventually approached $1 million. Total daily float rose from about $10 million to $22 million. Over the life of the scheme, Mott-Formicola spent roughly $20.9 million she did not have on business ventures and personal purchases, including real estate.³

It collapsed in March 2024, when Kinecta began rejecting checks drawn on its accounts. The resulting charge-backs left an overdraw balance near $20.9 million. Five Star Bank absorbed a loss of $18,979,005.79.¹

The Charges and Guilty Plea

The criminal case is docketed as 6:24-cr-06161 in the Western District of New York and was investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the New York State Department of Financial Services.⁴ On December 3, 2024, Mott-Formicola, then 54 and of Pittsford, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. to financial institution fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1344 and money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1956. The charges carry a statutory maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.¹

Why Sentencing Keeps Getting Delayed

Sentencing has been pushed back three times. News10NBC (WHEC) reported that the most recent delay came at the joint request of prosecutors and the defense so Mott-Formicola could continue cooperating with federal investigators, including testifying before a grand jury. That cooperation suggests the government is looking at other people connected to the fraud. Her hearing is currently set for July 14, 2026.²

The Businesses That Collapsed With Her

Before the fraud surfaced, Mott-Formicola ran a well-known portfolio of Rochester-area restaurants and event spaces: Monroe’s in Pittsford, Rare 3001, Divinity Estate and Chapel at the former Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, The Wintergarden in the downtown Legacy Tower, and the Crescent Beach property in Greece. She also held the catering contract at Ridgemont Country Club.³⁵

Monroe’s closed. Divinity Estate and Chapel was evicted from its Colgate Rochester Crozer site in February 2025, and its landlord, Vistas at Strong LLC, later sued in Monroe County state Supreme Court for close to $2 million in unpaid rent, elevator damage, and remaining lease obligations through November 2030.⁶ Couples with weddings booked at Divinity lost non-refundable deposits and were left rebooking venues, travel, and vendors. Some were offered a move to The Wintergarden, but that venue was itself behind on its obligations and reportedly in sale talks.⁷

What Five Star Bank Has Recovered

Very little. Five Star Bank has said publicly that it has not recovered “a penny” from either the receiver or the defendant entities.³ The bank filed a parallel civil suit in the Western District of New York, docketed as 6:2024cv06153, to recover the $18.9 million it says was stolen, and the court appointed Mark R. Kercher as receiver over Mott-Formicola’s business entities to run daily operations, liquidate assets, and try to trace funds.⁸

Kercher’s final report, filed March 30, 2026, said the trail was “already cold” by the time he was appointed, tangled in millions of dollars of interbank transactions. Outside of $56,290.98 from the sale of a Livingston County property, he reported, the defendant entities held no remaining cash or liquid assets.³

Five Star Bank pushed back hard. In an April 2, 2026, filing, attorney James P. Milbrand of Barclay Damon LLP accused Kercher of not using his subpoena powers, declining a forensic accounting the bank offered to fund, and focusing on liquidating restaurant assets instead of tracing the money. Milbrand called the final report “little more than the disappointing conclusion to a disappointing receivership by a disappointing receiver.”⁹ The bank noted that Kercher and his legal team had already been paid at least $259,826.50 and opposed his request for an additional $40,164.78.¹⁰ Judge Geraci had not ruled on the fee dispute as of the most recent reporting.

The Crescent Beach Forfeiture

The Crescent Beach property in Greece became the one visible asset in the recovery effort. Mott-Formicola and business partner Robert Harris had bought the long-closed restaurant and seven adjacent parcels in November 2023 for $2.39 million through their entity Wexford Glen LLC, with $1.7 million in financing from Casciani Construction. Renovations began that December and stopped when the fraud was exposed the following spring.¹¹

As part of her plea, Mott-Formicola and Harris formally agreed to forfeit Crescent Beach, with any sale proceeds going toward restitution. The agreement called for Kercher to sell the property within 75 days, and it barred Mott-Formicola from reacquiring it directly or through anyone acting on her behalf.¹¹ Casciani Construction then filed a foreclosure action in March 2025, citing a $1.5 million balance and no payments since September 2024. On April 22, 2026, New York State Supreme Court Justice Daniel J. Doyle granted summary judgment and cleared Casciani to foreclose.¹² The property sits vacant with delinquent taxes and no funds for upkeep.¹³

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Pittsford Woman Pleads Guilty to Check Kiting Scheme
2
WHEC. Sentencing Delayed in Check-Kiting Scheme as Pittsford Woman Cooperates With Investigators
3
Rochester Business Journal. Mott Floated $22M a Day at Height of Check-Kiting Scheme
4
CourtListener. United States v. Mott-Formicola
5
WXXINEWS. Five Star Has Yet to Track Down Millions Stolen by Venue Operator
6
Rochester Business Journal. Lawsuit Alleges Mott’s Divinity Estate Chapel Must Pay $2 Million in Rent
7
WXXINEWS. Couples Left Scrambling as Business Collapse Leads to Wedding Cancellations
8
New York Daily Record. Mott Floated $22M a Day at Height of Check-Kiting Scheme
9
Rochester Beacon. Receiver in Kathy Mott Case Failed to Track Fraud, Bank Argues
10
Rochester First. Five Star Says Receiver Failed in Mott Fraud Case
11
Rochester Business Journal. Mott, Business Partner Formally Agree to Crescent Beach Forfeiture
12
Rochester Business Journal. Casciani Construction Cleared to Foreclose on Crescent Beach
13
13WHAM. Receiver Report Details Crescent Beach Property in Five Star Bank Lawsuit