Twelve people, several hailing from Long Island, were arrested tiffany Thursday and charged with running a mortgage fraud ring that allegedly obtained $9 million in loans for phantom home buyers.
The group, which includes lawyers, loan officers, and providers of identification documents, were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo’s office said it had led a multi-agency investigation that resulted in the charges unsealed today, alleging that the defendants from 2005 to 2007 engaged in an illegal scheme to “trick mortgage lending institutions into giving loans for the purchase of homes in New York City and Long Island.”
The defendants allegedly used fake identity information such as driver’s licenses and key rings bank statements and presented impostors at home closings. Loans allegedly were made in the names of individuals who either didn’t exist or whose identification information had been misused.
“This is exactly the type of criminal activity that was caused by – and contributed to – the terrible mortgage crisis facing our nation,” Cuomo said in a statement.
This investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Banking Department’s Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Attorney General’s office included eavesdropping along with extensive interviews and surveillance.
The indictment, which is an accusation of individuals presumed innocent until found guilty in court, names defendants in Long Island and New York City.
The Long Islanders include Jeffrey LaRochelle, 29, of Bay Shore, who processed loans through necklaces Reliable Capital, a mortgage brokerage firm; Eric Finger, 44, of Mineola, an attorney who acted as the settlement agent representing the lender in connection with closings on many properties; Frederick Warren, 35, of Miller Place, who processed loans through Reliance Capital and other brokers; Dorian Brown, 36, of Mount Sinai, who was a loan officer at Lend America, a mortgage lender and broker; and Brandon Lisi, 36, of Glen Cove, an attorney who prepared sales contracts for the purchase of target properties and procured fraudulent buyers to act as purchasers for the target properties.