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Two cases from New York resonated with the mortgage fraud blotter Wednesday, with news sources reporting indictments against six people accused of raking in some $25 million in mortgage fraud and a reduced prison sentence for a money launderer previously convicted for stripping $98 million from lenders.
[IMAGE]A ""statement"":http://7thspace.com/headlines/396131/six_indicted_in_25_million_mortgage_fraud_scheme.html by the ""Federal Bureau of Investigation"":http://www.fbi.gov/ (FBI) and ""_Reuters_"":http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/newyork-kontogiannis-idUSN1E7941SZ20111005 story contributed to the round of news for the _MReport_ blotter.
First up, the FBI made public news that a federal grand jury in Brooklyn slapped six defendants with indictments over an alleged $25 million in fraudulently obtained loans. The victims: Countrywide Financial Corp., SunTrust Mortgage Inc., Wells Fargo, and several other lenders.
According to the federal agency, the defendants include attorneys, loan officers, and a real estate agent, which include Matthew Burstein, Elias Compres, John Constantinides, Arturo Giraldo, Aaron Rabinowitz, and Rolando Roldan. Among the charges: conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, along with charges of wire fraud. Each could see 30 years in the federal slammer.
[COLUMN_BREAK]The FBI said that those accused obtained their loans by submitting fraudulent mortgage applications and deliberately false HUD documents. The scheme combusted when the loans went into default for lack of payment.
U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, responsible for filing the indictments, said in a statement, ""Our real estate markets rely on the integrity of its members.
""For almost a decade, these defendants allegedly used a trail of false documents and broken promises to enrich themselves to the tune of millions,"" she added. ""We will vigorously investigate and prosecute those ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô including attorneys and other licensed professionals ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô who compromise positions of trust and perpetrate mortgage fraud.""
Nothing new came down the pipeline for convicted money-launderer and former real-estate developer Thomas Kontogiannis, who found some reprieve from a judge for his role in a massive mortgage-fraud scheme that made national headlines, according to _Reuters_.
His sentence, originally more than 12 years, saw itself trimmed to nine years, courtesy of U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, _Reuters_ reported.
The news service quoted the judge as calling ""one of the largest mortgage-origination frauds on record... extremely serious, especially in light of the staggering losses.""
Kontogiannis, originally from Greece, made his bones in the national spotlight by laundering money for disgraced former Rep. Randy ""Duke"" Cunningham in 2008, _Reuters_ said. He later orchestrated a $98-million scheme that involved sham buyers, a switch-up in repeatedly obtained mortgages, and multiple sales of the loans to secondary buyers.
The convicted money-launderer will serve his nine-year sentence concurrently with another eight years he received in 2008, according to the news service.
