Dover Man Pleads Guilty in Mortgage Fraud Scheme
A former employee of a Parsippany, NJ mortgage lender pled guilty today in Newark federal court to one count of wire fraud in connection with his participation in a mortgage fraud scheme which purportedly netted him $138,402 in proceeds. Jorge Abbud of Dover, NJ admitted that he targeted homeowners who had equity in their homes, but were facing foreclosure because they were unable to make regular mortgage payments. Abbud faces up to a maximum of 20 years in federal prison as a result of the guilty plea.
Abbud purportedly told the homeowners to permit the titles to their homes to be recorded in the names of third-party purchasers, known as “straw buyers,” for a period of one to three years in order to avoid foreclosure while he worked on improving their credit scores and obtaining mortgages with more favorable interest rates on their behalf. Abbud then recruited the straw buyers, whom he told that they were helping the homeowners keep their homes. Abbud also reportedly caused the straw buyers to misrepresent their incomes on mortgage applications to purchase the homes.
18 U.S.C. Section 1343 makes it a federal crime for anyone to transmit by means of the wires, any communication in interstate or foreign commerce as part of a scheme to defraud. Anyone convicted of wire fraud, which by its very terms covers a broad range of conduct, faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross amount of any pecuniary gain or loss resulting from the offense. This case is the result of a recent crackdown on mortgage fraud by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, whose stated goal is to “wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.”
Anyone charged with mortgage fraud or any other financial crime in New Jersey should contact New Jersey criminal defense lawyer Nace Naumoski for representation.
