REFERENCE The subprime mortgage meltdown is attributed to these illegal invaders fraudulently getting loans with stolen identities; if they could breathe and make an X, they got a mortgage, no questions asked. The conniving illegals then flipped the mortgaged houses among relatives at higher and higher prices.......the last relative absconds to Mexico with loads of cash, leaving banks (and taxpayers) holding the bag.
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REFERENCE 5/10/10 NJ man admits repeating immigration fraud scheme TRENTON (AP) A New Jersey man has pleaded guilty for the second time in less than a year to defrauding immigrants by posing as a federal agent. Forty-six-year-old Michael Ruiz of Newark pleaded guilty Monday in a New Jersey courtroom to charges he took more than $60,000 from immigrants in Florida. The U.S. Attorney's Office says Ruiz moved his scheme to Florida after working a similar scam in New Jersey for three years. Ruiz pleaded guilty in 2009 to a mail fraud charge in New Jersey. Prosecutors say he defrauded at least 20 people out of more than $150,000 by posing as an "INS'' agent and offering services for a fee. Ruiz is facing more than 30 years in prison for the combined charges when he's sentenced Aug. 19 in New Jersey.
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Cocaine kingpin's wife avoids prison with guilty plea; enters pretrial program
Chantal Esteves admitted in court she signed several money orders knowing the money was derived from the criminal activity of her husband. Chantal Esteves kept a large collection of Prada shoes costing between $500 to $1,000 a pair, according to authorities. Vicente Esteves kept about 100 Rolex watches. Federal authorities say the Esteves' lavish lifestyle included cash expenditures in excess of $5 million over a seven-year period.
Vicente and Chantal Esteves' upscale suburban NJ home was appraised at more than $2 million. The fortress-like home featured a 30-seat home movie theater and backyard volleyball court.
According to authorities, the drug ring supplied drugs — imported from the Dominican Republic through Atlanta — to New Jersey, Florida, Georgia and other states.
Vicente Esteves also is named in a 36-count federal indictment that alleges that lawyer Paul Bergrin met with a Chicago hitman to try to arrange the murder of a witness who was to testify against Esteves in the drug case. That murder never happened, prosecutors said, because the hitman contracted by Bergrin was a government informant.
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Staff Reporter on 06/02/08
Husband And Wife Plead Guilty To Massive Florida Straw Buyer Scheme
Juan and Rachael Torrens pled guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with their participation in a recent multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme in South Florida. The defendants acknowledged as part of their guilty plea that their scheme produced over $15,000,000 in fraudulent loans, and resulted in losses of over $5,000,000 to various lenders. With Juan and Rachael Torrens‘ guilty pleas, 15 of the original 31 defendants charged have pled guilty.
As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, defendants Juan Torrens, the de facto owner of Amsouth Trust & Investment Corp. (”Amsouth”) and president of Countryside Land & Development, Inc., Rachael Torrens, president of 1st Choice Realty of South Florida, Inc. and de facto owner of First United Mortgage USA Corp., Daniel Ramos, Alfonso A. Muxo, a State of Florida certified real estate appraiser and owner of Palm Bay Real Estate Appraisals, Inc., and Katherine Harris, former president and part owner of Floridian Home Title Corporation, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and/or wire fraud for their participation in this massive mortgage fraud scheme. The scheme involved fraudulent mortgage loans obtained for the purchase of 28 properties located in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, Florida, and in the City of Marco Island. All except Katherine Harris have already pled guilty, and are awaiting sentence.
The Indictment also charges defendants Mario E. Diaz, Aurelio Pozo, Oscar Barreiro, Lellany Rordriguez, Jose Asensi, Carlos Morales, Damaris Jimenez, Lizabeth Perez, Mario Blanco, Rene Rodriguez, Tamaris Angulo, Alicia Loaiza, Ester Crespo, Jesus Enrique Guevara, Janette Lugo, Priscilla Fleitas, Erick Clavijo, Luis DeJesus Planas, Moises Llorens, Milva Roque, Aurora Ramentol, Gladys Lens, Nancy Fundora, Yanny Cruz Pavon, Roger Rosario and Jacqueline Perez-Castillo ("the straw buyer defendants") with wire fraud for their participation in this mortgage fraud scheme.
To date, guilty pleas have been entered by defendants Aurelio Pozo, Oscar Barreiro, Carlos Morales, Damaris Jimenez, Mario Blanco, Jesus Enrique Guevara, Janette Lugo, Priscilla Fleitas, Moises Llorens, Gladys Lens, and Roger Rosario.
According to the Indictment, Juan Torrens would identify sellers of residential properties who were willing to overstate the true selling price of their properties. Daniel Ramos and Juan Torrens would then recruit and pay the straw buyer defendants to pose as buyers and ostensibly participate in the purchase of the selected properties.
Defendants Rachael Torrens and Juan Torrens would prepare fraudulent mortgage loan applications for the straw purchasers that included false employment verifications, pay stubs, income and funds on deposit, and IRS Forms W-2.
Thereafter, to support the overstated sales prices on the properties and the fraudulent mortgage applications, defendant Alonso A. Muxo would prepare fraudulent appraisals attesting to the inflated property values dictated by Juan Torrens. Roger Rosario, an employee of Regions Bank, assisted the fraud by providing, on at least one occasion, a fraudulent verification of deposit in connection with a mortgage loan application for one of the straw buyer defendants.
To effectuate the scheme, defendants Juan Torrens and Rachael Torrens, together with the straw buyer defendants, would create and submit to the banks and lending institutions HUD-Settlement Statement Forms, also known as HUD-1s, which falsely stated that the straw buyers brought their own funds to the closings.
Once the mortgage applications were approved, the lenders would wire the loan proceeds to the title company, Floridian Home Title, for closing.
At closing, Amsouth, a company owned and controlled by Juan Torrens, would receive a credit for the difference between the inflated price and the actual selling price of the property. Defendants Juan and Rachael Torrens would make the payments on the mortgage loans to maintain the loans afloat until the properties could be resold again, often to another straw buyer. When the Torrenses failed to make payments on the loans, some properties went into foreclosure, resulting in substantial losses to the lending institutions.
SOURCE http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/husband_and_wife_plead_guilty_to_massive_florida_straw_buyer_scheme/
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Florida Straw Buyer Scheme, April 26, by Diane C. Lade
Florida once again was rated the top state for mortgage fraud, according to a report released Monday by the LexisNexis Mortgage Asset Research Institute. Florida also held the annual report's top spot in 2006 and 2007, but was replaced in 2008 by Rhode Island. New York was in second place behind Florida in 2009, followed by California. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale region ranked fourth among the metropolitan areas studied, institute researchers found, accounting for 4 percent of all mortgage fraud reported nationwide. The New York-New Jersey-Long Island area was first, followed by Los Angeles-Riverside and the tri-state Chicago-Gary-Kenosha region. ..... Foreclosure fraud investigation - SS, 2010 April 29 Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's office is conducting a civil investigation into allegations that one of Florida's largest foreclosure law firms Florida Default Law Group is giving courts faulty or fabricated paperwork. The AG's web site says its Economic Crimes Unit in Fort Lauderdale is looking into charges that the faulty paperwork is "due to the mortgage crisis and thousands of foreclosures per month." .....