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R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida announced that a joint federal-state investigation, spearheaded by the Internal Revenue Service and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, culminated in a 70-count indictment, unsealed today, charging 15 defendants in a wide-ranging mortgage fraud scheme. This scheme yielded 12 fraudulent loans, totaling approximately $8,300,000.
According to the Indictment, defendants Henry Quintero-Lopez and Lazaro Villalba orchestrated a scheme through which they located properties for sale in the Southwest Ranches area of Broward county. Quintero-Lopez and Villalba would offer the owners full asking price for the properties, and then inflate the contract purchase price submitted to the lender to allow their companies, New World International and D& H Investments of South Florida, to receive as a “fee” moneys in excess of the true purchase price.
To execute their scheme, Quintero-Lopez and Villalba would recruit individuals who, for a fee, would serve as “straw buyers” of the properties selected. Quintero-Lopez and Villalba would obtain fraudulent pay stubs, IRS forms W-2, verification of employment and verification of deposit forms from defendant Joaquin M. Perea, the owner of J.P.Accounting Service in Miami, Florida. These false documents would, in turn, be submitted to the mortgage brokers, defendants Antonio Ramos, at Home Mortgage Finance Group in Miami, and Ruben Jimenez, at Lenders Choice Mortgage Services in Miami.
According to the Indictment, Ramos and Jimenez knowingly assisted Quintero-Lopez and Villalba in obtaining the fraudulent mortgages from lenders in the names of the straw buyers. The Indictment further alleges that defendants Eric Garcia and Martine Yanisse Castrillon were licensed State of Florida registered trainee appraisers who knowingly prepared fraudulent appraisals at the request of Quintero-Lopez and Villalba.
The Indictment also alleges that defendants Felipe M. Nunez, Michelle Volcy, Luc Bruna, Maykel Clavero-Gonzalez, Iray Ponte, Nidia Rodriguez-Rial, and Iliana Lima were straw buyers who were paid thousands of dollars by Quintero-Lopez and Villalba to sign the purchase documents and appear at the closings to have the properties placed in their names.
Eight fraudulent mortgages are listed in the Indictment, which includes charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, substantive mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to engage in money laundering, and substantive money laundering. Each defendant faces a statutory maximum sentence of five (5) years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the conspiracy count; a statutory maximum sentence of twenty (20) years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the wire and mail fraud counts; and a maximum statutory sentence of twenty (20) years in prison and a fine of up to at least $500,000 on each of the money laundering counts.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Internal Revenue Service and Broward County Sheriff’s Office for their work on this case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Lanigan.
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