Fed's surge in mortgage fraud prosecutions

TAMPA - As promised, federal authorities have amped up criminal mortgage fraud prosecutions.

In the past week, cases were filed in Tampa federal court against at least 11 people accused of lying to lenders and property appraisers to acquire millions in mortgage loans during the property boom that ended last year.

Over the past nine months, authorities say, a surge in mortgage fraud investigations has led to charges against more than 100 defendants accused of fraudulently getting about $400 million on at least 700 properties throughout the Middle District of Florida. Thirty of the defendants were charged in Tampa.

The defendants include mortgage brokers, straw buyers and an unemployed day trader, who authorities say managed to obtain two mortgages despite the fact that he had no income.

U.S. Attorney Brian Albritton is holding a series of news conferences today and Wednesdayin the Middle District of Florida, including this afternoon in Tampa, to update the public about mortgage fraud prosecutions.

The surge, which began in January and ended last week, is the first phase of a plan to investigate and prosecute individuals and institutions involved in mortgage fraud.

Among the recent cases outlined in court documents:

Jason Anthony Martinez, a licensed mortgage broker, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and mail fraud affecting a financial institution.

According to his plea agreement, Martinez lied in order to induce lenders to provide $4 million in mortgages from 2005 to 2007. Martinez and his coconspirators obtained mortgage loans on at least 21 properties, resulting in losses of $1 million to $2 million to the financial institutions.

One of the properties, at 3118 E. 33rd Ave., was purchased for $31,000 in July 2005 through the Teacher Next Door program. The federal program gives eligible buyers, such as teachers and police officers, up to half the cost of eligible properties if they promise to live in them exclusively for three years. The property is also not to be sold for more than 110 percent of the net development costs.

But the property was sold to another "complicit straw purchaser" 10 months after the sale for $110,000, netting Martinez $95,000.The straw purchaser's fraudulently obtained mortgage ultimately ended in foreclosure.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development lost $15,500 as a result of the fraud.

The FBI has requested an arrest warrant for Jorge Socorro, the former corporate manager for the funding department of GreatStone Mortgage, a Tampa-based company that went under following a massive fraud scheme perpetrated by its owners.

Last week,the company's former president, Corey Brower, was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison and his wife, Sandi, was sentenced to three years and four months. They were given reduced sentences largely because of their extensive cooperation with federal authorities.

The FBI also sought an arrest warrant for Roy Watson, who is accused of lying about his income to get loans for $560,000 and $140,000 in 2006.

Watson said he made $18,750 a month when it was really $3,600, and also lied that he planned to use the property at 68 Gulfwinds Drive in Palm Harbor as his primary residence.

In 2009, Watson told the FBI that two people approached him in 2006 about an investment opportunity. They said they had a buyer lined up but wanted to use Watson's name and credit to purchase the house, and agreed to split the profits with him.

Watson said he was paid $10,000 for his participation.

The FBI has asked a judge for an arrest warrant for Beatriz Sanchez, who authorities believe left the United States on a flight to Amsterdam in July.

Sanchez is accused of obtaining five mortgage and home equity loans totaling $670,300 on a property at 3436 Red Rock Drive in Land O' Lakes that had been purchased for $217,000 in April 2006.

Nelson Bryan Rivera Valentin was charged in a complaint with wire fraud affecting a financial institution, accused of lying on a mortgage application and falsely representing his income.

The complaint states Rivera induced two banks to provide loans worth a total of $900,000 on a property at 5711 Sea Trout Place in Apollo Beach, which was foreclosed on in November 2000 and ultimately sold for about $370,000.

The FBI sought an arrest warrant for Richard Likane, an unemployed day trader who authorities say had no income but managed to obtain two loans totaling more than $300,000.

Likane, 44, of Tampa, faces a charge of mail fraud. According to court papers, he lied about his monthly income in obtaining a mortgage of $161,000 for 10808 Dragonwood Drive in Tampa in February 2006, a year in which he actually lost $3,000 trading stocks and had no salary or wages.

In March 2007, he obtained a home equity line of credit for $195,000 on a property at 3857 Mariner Drive in St. Petersburg, falsely representing his annual income as $75,000 when it was zero.

In January 2008, Likane filed for bankruptcy and testified under oath that he had not been employed since 2000, and had been a day trader of stocks and a house flipper since then.

The FBI asked for an arrest warrant for Robert W. Bentley, 50, of Tampa, on a charge of mail fraud.

Bentley is accused of falsely representing his monthly income as $13,499 to get a $600,000 mortgage for a house at 3415 Holly Springs Drive in Spring Hill in 2007. At the time, his actual income was $50,000 a year.

He also allegedly lied about his income to obtain two mortgages totaling $650,000 for 3338 Fernando Drive in Hernando Beach.

Lakeisha Gates has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

In 2007, she worked at a St. Petersburg brokerage firm owned by Gretchen and Eric Scott. The Scotts approached Gates about a scheme to help them with their financial problems, according to her plea agreement.

Gates would act as the nominee purchaser for two properties owned by the couple, but the Scotts would make the mortgage payments. The purchase price for the two properties would far exceed the existing mortgage amounts; the conspirators would later sell the houses when their value increased.

On loan documents, Gates was falsely represented as the vice president of a catering company making $5,000 a month. She was paid $10,000 for her participation.

The Scotts obtained loans totaling nearly $300,000 on the properties, which subsequently went into foreclosure. The couple have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.

Licensed mortgage broker William Craig Straub has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

In February 2007, Straub sent an appraiser a contract for 547 Lillian Drive in Madeira Beach stating that the price was $700,000 when the true price was $520,000. As a result, a conspirator obtained a loan for $630,000 and kept $180,000.

A month later, Straub sent an appraiser a contract on 12270 Fourth St. E. in Treasure Island, falsely representing the price at $735,000 when it was $540,000.

That summer, Straub provided an appraiser with a purchase contract for 635 34th Ave. in St. Petersburg, representing the price at $2.35 million when it was $1.4 million. A lender provided $2.11 million to a co-conspirator, who kept $793,480.