Thursday, January 22, 2009

Title Closing Company Owner Gets 10+ Years In Cash Back Mortgage Scam

In Miami, Florida, the South Florida Business Journal reports:
  • A Miami woman was sentenced in federal court on Thursday to more than 10 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $6 million in restitution for her role in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme. Magile Cruz, who also went by several aliases, pleaded guilty in November to charges that she engaged in a scheme to obtain fraudulent mortgage loans on properties in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.(1)

For more, see Miami woman sentenced in multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud.

Go here for the U.S. Attorney press release: De Facto Owner Of Mortgage Companies And title Agencies Sentenced In Multi-Million Dollar Mortgage Fraud Scheme.

For earlier post and more details on this case, see Florida Feds Obtain Indictment In Alleged Mortgage Scam Involving 79 Homes, $24M In Fraudulently Obtained Loans, $5M In Lender Losses.

(1) Reportedly, Cruz, who owned several mortgage and title companies, along with other co-conspirators, would recruit and pay straw buyers for the properties. They then would prepare fraudulent loan applications on behalf of the straw buyers, using false financial documentation. Once the mortgage applications were approved, the lenders would wire the loan proceeds to her companies for closing.