By Daniel Wenner (June 7, 2017, 11:42 AM EDT) -- Municipal development corporations can be boons for their municipalities. They develop areas within their municipalities into shopping malls, commercial districts, sports complexes, and housing developments. Often, those development corporations are authorized by state law to issue bonds to fund their development projects. And the municipalities they support can also issue bonds to raise money for their own endeavors. Purchasers of those bonds usually look for — and typically receive — returns on their investments. Sometimes, however, they end up holding the bag when the issuers of the bonds falsify their own financial circumstances. Such is the case with the bonds issued by the town of Ramapo, New York, and the Ramapo Local Development Corporation. The RLDC's executive director, N. Aaron Troodler, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. And Ramapo's town supervisor, Christopher St. Lawrence, was convicted at trial of 20 counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud....