Six defendants, including a real estate attorney and mortgage brokers, received prison sentences this week for their respective roles in a $5.6 million mortgage fraud scheme.
The scheme developed at the luxury Jade apartment complex in Miami, Fla.
The parties sentenced include real estate attorney Lilia Casal-Diaz, 42; Andres Mendez Sr., 47; Andy Mendez Jr., 26; Josephine Santana, 57; Jose Rafael Martinez, 36; and Basilio Gomez, 52.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Wilfredo Ferrer said the defendants were sentenced for their roles in a scheme where the parties used straw buyers to acquire apartments at the complex while preparing multiple sets of loan documents, including fraudulent documents that allowed them to eventually collect millions in fraudulently obtained loan proceeds.
Apparently, HUD-1 documents submitted to lenders contained false information, while a second version of the same forms were submitted to borrowers with the real sales prices. The defendants each received jail time, with the average sentence well over a year.
