Boston Feds Indict Eleven For Allegedly Tricking Lenders Out Of $10.6M In Mortgages Using Straw Buyers, I.D. Theft

In Boston, Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reports:

• The Justice Department yesterday charged two Boston lawyers, seven mortgage brokers, and two others with fraudulently obtaining more than $10.6 million in loans using straw buyers or stolen identities to purchase 21 properties in the Boston area. Federal officials said it is the biggest mortgage fraud in Massachusetts since the 1980s.

• During the height of the housing boom in 2005 and 2006, the lawyers and brokers allegedly falsified information about borrowers and inflated the purchase price of homes by as much as $250,000 to fool mortgage lenders and banks into loaning them more money, according to the charges filed yesterday in US District Court in Boston. The ring netted about $1.7 million in profit. [...] At least 14 of the 21 properties involved have been seized by lenders, according to county deed records.

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• Two Boston lawyers, Eric L. Levine, 55, of Brookline and J. Daniel Lindley, 59, of Jamaica Plain were involved in all the transactions, according to court papers. [...] Seven of those charged worked for New England Merchants Corp. in Arlington: Ernst Appolon, Ralph Appolon, Daniel Appolon, Andre Junior Lamerique, Widner LaMarre, Jermaine Blake, and Samuel Jean-Louis. The remaining defendants are Latoya Haltiwanger, a broker with Topdot Mortgage, and Quincy resident Jean Noriscat. Daniel Appolon and Jean-Louis have not been arrested.

For more, see 11 are charged in $10.6 million loan-fraud scam.

From the Boston U.S. Attorney's Office:

• Indictment - U.S. v. Levine, et al.,
• Press release - Eleven Indicted In Mortgage Fraud Ring.