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<nyt_correction_top>
</nyt_correction_top>

It is not often that prosecutors ask that a Ferrari be included in a
bail package. Then again, the criminal case of Steven Mandala is
nothing if not unusual.

Mr. Mandala, 29, is accused of lying about his qualifications to get a job with Merrill Lynch
in April 2009. He greatly inflated how much money he brought in for the
brokerage firm he had worked for, providing forged pay stubs and tax
returns to back up his lies, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, said in a statement Tuesday.

On the basis of those lies, Merrill Lynch hired Mr. Mandala and gave
him a $780,000 loan, a perk customarily extended to lure top-flight
traders and brokers, Mr. Vance said.

Mr. Mandala promptly used the loan to buy a $245,000 Ferrari, a
purchase that bothered prosecutors so much that they made the unusual
move of asking a judge to force him to turn over the car as part of his
bail.

The judge, Daniel P. FitzGerald of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, ended up setting bail at $500,000, Ferrari not included.

Mr. Mandala was charged with grand larceny, money laundering, criminal
possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records and identity theft.

He was a stockbroker with the Maxim Group,
where he earned a salary of $100,000, when he applied to work at
Merrill Lynch, Mr. Vance said. Mr. Mandala incorrectly told Merrill
Lynch that he was a partner at Maxim and that he managed $300 million
worth of assets and produced $1.5 million for the company, Hope
Korenstein, an assistant district attorney, said in court. He also said
he earned $765,000 a year, Ms. Korenstein said, and used fake documents
to support his claims.

Mr. Mandala also made charges to credit cards he opened up in the name
of his ex-girlfriend’s father, Ms. Korenstein said. Mr. Mandala is
accused of stealing the $780,000 he was lent by Merrill Lynch.

He pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Franklin A. Rothman, said Mr.
Mandala’s ex-girlfriend had opened up the cards in her father’s name.

Outside of court, Mr. Rothman said his client may have inflated his
credentials when applying to Merrill Lynch, but not to the extent that
prosecutors contended.

In a civil suit, a court has frozen $300,000 of Mr. Mandala’s assets,
and he is willing to sell or turn over the 2006 Ferrari to Merrill
Lynch to settle the case, Mr. Rothman said.

Justice FitzGerald told Ms. Korenstein that the Ferrari “doesn’t matter
as it relates to bail unless you believe he’s going to drive off in the
sunset with it.”

A short time later, the judge smiled and said to Mr. Mandala, “You get to keep the Ferrari.”