A brokerage owner and three mortgage loan officers in New York faced future in prison Thursday as the authorities prepared to sentence the former and the latter pled guilty to mortgage fraud.
[IMAGE]_MReport_ culled the latest accounts of fraud from the ""Federal Bureau of Investigation"":http://www.fbi.gov/ (FBI) and ""Newsday"":http://7thspace.com/headlines/410058/three_mortgage_loan_officers_plead_guilty_in_manhattan_federal_court_to_orchestrating_9_million_mortgage_fraud_scheme.html.
The publication divulged the story of one Gerard Canino, who pled guilty to $67 million in fraudulent loans this week and will receive his sentence ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô one that may run up to 30 years in prison ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô in May.
Canino led a conspiracy through First Class Equities, his
[COLUMN_BREAK]brokerage, bilking more than 100 homes until 2009, according to Newsday.
""Gerard Canino should have promoted responsible homeownership and protected the integrity of the mortgage finance industry,"" the publication quoted Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara as saying in a statement. ""Instead, he used his firm to commit a massive mortgage fraud scheme that left scores of foreclosed properties in its wake.""
This week loan officers Frederick Warren, Dorian Brown, and Fritz Bonaventure threw in the towel over their roles in a scheme that totaled $9 million, according to the FBI.
Along with nine others, the loan officers coordinated an illicit scheme to defraud lending institutions with straw-buyer identities.
Warren and Brown may each face up to 50 years in prison, while Bonaventure could see himself in the slammer for 30.
Said Bharara in a statement: ""Frederick Warren, Dorian Brown, and Fritz Bonaventure betrayed the lending institutions for which they worked, approving loan applications they knew were bogus and would end up in default. Their pleas today are sterling examples of how federal and state authorities can work together to identify, prosecute, and punish those who engage in mortgage fraud.""