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Tag: Federal Housing Finance Agency
Mortgage Fraud: NJ Developer, Attorney Admit Swindling Lenders Out Of $3.5M
A New Jersey real estate developer and a lawyer admitted running a multi-layered mortgage fraud that cost banks more than $3.5 million in losses, federal authorities said.
Developer Victor Santos, 63, of Watchung, paid stand-in "straw" buyers $5,000 each to first purchase a dozen properties in Newark and then secure tenants to lease them, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
A group of conspirators including him and attorney Fausto Simoes, 69, of Millington, covered the costs -- including fees and mortgage payments, the U.S. attorney said.
"Santos, Simoes, and others also caused the sub…
Mahwah Con Man, Partner Prey On Elderly In $1.6M Scam, Feds Charge
Using an unlicensed real estate appraiser name Soprano, a pair of contracting con men – one from Mahwah, the other from Clifton – pocketed $1.6 million by targeting elderly victims in a reverse mortgage scam, federal authorities charged.
Philip Puccio Jr., 40, of Mahwah, and Rafael Peralta, 46, of Clifton, convinced the homeowners to apply for the mortgages for home repairs, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury says.
The duo then got unindicted co-conspirator Joseph Soprano to inflate the values of the homes on applications for home equity conversion mortgages (HECM), also known a…
