Mortgage Broker Gets 36 Months For Role In Duping Secured Lenders Into Releasing Their Liens On Real Estate Through Fraudulently Arranged Short Sales

From the Office of the U.S. Attorney (Newark, New Jersey):

• A Middlesex County, New Jersey, man was sentenced [] to 36 months in prison for his role in a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that caused millions of dollars in losses, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
  
  Delio Coutinho, 73, of Woodbridge, New Jersey previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence [] in Newark federal court.
  
  According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
  
  From March 2008 through June 2012, Coutinho, a loan officer at a northern New Jersey mortgage brokerage company, and others conspired to release liens on encumbered properties via fraudulently arranged short sale transactions. This allowed Coutinho and other conspirators to profit from new fraudulent mortgage loans obtained on the properties from other mortgage lenders.
  
  To complete the short sale transactions, Coutinho and others submitted materially false closing and other documents to mortgage lenders. They submitted fraudulent mortgage loan applications to lenders to obtain new loans on multiple properties in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In all, Coutinho and others obtained approximately $2 million in illegal mortgage proceeds.
  
  In addition to the prison terms, Judge Wigenton ordered Coutinho to serve three years of supervised release and pay more than $1.3 million in restitution.

Source: Former Loan Officer Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For His Role In $2 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme.