South Florida Feds Get Guilty Verdict In "Operation Whose House" Mortgage Fraud

Ishmael Grant, of Lauderhill, Florida, one of the lead defendants in a $10,000,000 scheme to defraud mortgage lenders, was found guilty by a jury in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida Federal Court. The joint announcement, by authorities from a number of Federal agencies involved in the case, was made late Friday afternoon (4/13/07).

The verdict was the culmination of a two week trial in which 32 witnesses testified. Grant was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft , three counts of mail fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.

Ishmael Grant is the eighth defendant to plead guilty or be convicted after trial in connection with “Operation Whose House.” Presently, one defendant is awaiting trial and two defendants are fugitives in a foreign country. According to the evidence produced at trial, the scam involved fraudulently obtaining over 30 mortgage loans from lenders on property throughout Broward County, Florida and involved:

• paying individuals to act as straw buyers, the submission of false documentation (ie. false loan applications, false employment verification forms, false salary statements, false bank account statements reflecting high account balances), and identity theft (ie. using false or stolen Florida’s driver’s licenses, identification cards, and social security numbers as their personal identification to buy the homes in other people's names).

For more, see the 4-16-07 USDOJ Press Release, Operation Whose House Mortgage Fraud Defendant Guilty In Mortgage Fraud Scheme.

For a local media report on the case, see Lauderhill man found guilty of multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud, reported in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

For earlier USDOJ Press Releases announcing the guilty pleas of other defendants, see

• Five defendants Plead Guilty To Motgage Fraud Scheme (2-23-07),
• Two More Plead Guilty In Operation Whose House Mortgage Fraud And Identity Theft Ring (3-16-07)

For a copy of the indictment in this case, see Indictment - USA vs. Patterson, Brown, McGuire, et al., (detailing the Federal Grand Jury's 47 charges against the 11 person fraud ring)

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