Jury Convicts Title Agent Of Using Mom's I.D. To Illegal Score Reverse Mortgage On Her Own Home, Used Proceeds To Make "Hard Money" Loans; Made Bogus Reps In Subsequent Short Sale

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Miami, Florida):

• A Miami title agent and former mortgage broker was found guilty [...] for her role in a “reverse mortgage” fraud scheme in connection with a loan worth more than $400,000, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida.
  
  After a six-day jury trial [...], a federal jury convicted Yesenia Pouparina (aka Yesenia Campos), 40, of four counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud for her role in securing a fraudulent Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), commonly referred to as a reverse mortgage loan, and making false representations related to the occupancy of the property and its subsequent “short sale.”

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• According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Pouparina, a licensed title agent in the state of Florida, devised a scheme to obtain a reverse mortgage loan on her own property in the name of her mother, an individual who failed to meet the requirements of the HECM program.
  
  Pouparina submitted to a lending institution a false loan application and doctored records in support of that application, misrepresenting her mother’s eligibility to participate in the HECM program.
  
  Pouparina acted as the title agent for the loan and disbursed the loan proceeds directly to her own personal bank accounts.
  
  Pouparina also enriched herself by collecting fees generated by the loan, and also profited by using the loan proceeds in connection with her business as a “hard money lender” in other mortgage deals.

For the U.S. Attorney press release, see Former Title Agent and Broker Convicted in Miami for Role in Reverse Mortgage Scheme.