Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum says that his office has sued 10 companies and 15 individuals for their alleged roles in a significant mortgage fraud scheme in central Florida. The ring obtained more than $37 million in mortgage loans for at least 60 home purchases and siphoned off more than $6 million of those loan proceeds for their own use.
Beginning in July 2005 and continuing through at least January 2007, three of the ring's leaders allegedly defrauded banks by recruiting straw buyers with good credit and using these straw buyers to create false loan applications to purchase homes. They also allegedly created and provided fraudulent supporting documentation for the mortgage loan applications, including false employment information and verifications for the straw buyers, whose purpose was to conceal the true identity of those behind the purchasing process.
The lawsuit names American Heritage Mortgage Group Inc., Security One Mortgage Corp., Security Trust Title LLC, Trincity Trucking Inc., Allen Boyarsky, Stephen Mahadeo, E. Brooke Co. LLC, Longdenville Investment & Management Inc., American Heritage Commercial Capital, P & R Funding Corp., Steele Property Investments Inc., Bethann Schuldiner, Anthony Didonato, Steve Groden, Brad Frank Groden, 1st Capital Mortgage Associates Inc., Heather Showalter, Jeanette Lugo, Magdalene Williams, Norma Lopez, Kenneth West, Marcus Habeeb, Luis Delgado, Aziz Mohammed and Betty Bedeau.
Notable lenders – including IndyMac Bank and New Century Mortgage – are among those banks affected by the scheme, the attorney general's office adds.
Source: Office Of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum