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Mehdi “Mike” Kassai, 36, was part of a group of thieves who convinced mortgage lenders to participate in short-sale deals – which allow homeowners in trouble to sell for less than they owe on their mortgages, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
Kassai told a federal judge in Newark on Tuesday that he used bogus documents and buyers, damaged properties to lower their apparent value and “restricted the ability of others to bid and buy those properties,” Carpenito said.
“This allowed Kassai to gain control of properties through the short sale process for substantially less than the properties were actually worth,” the U.S. attorney said.
He then sold them at substantial profit, he said.
As part of a plea agreement with the government, Kassai must forfeit all proceeds from the scheme when he is sentenced on April 18 for two counts of bank fraud, one of wire fraud and one of money laundering, Carpenito said.
The U.S. attorney credited the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and special agents of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General with the investigation leading to Kassai’s plea, secured by Senior Trial Counsel Andrew Leven of Carpenito’s Healthcare & Government Fraud Unit and Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charlie Divine and Kevin DiGregory of the FHFA’s OIG.
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