The FBI has busted a $30 million Southern California mortgage fraud ring where suspects allegedly used stolen and fake IDs to receive as many as 250 mortgage loans over the past six years.
They even stole the identities of the dead, according to the FBI.
Authorities have described the fraud case as one of the largest they’ve ever seen in Orange County, the affluent community just south of Los Angeles.
Richard T. Garcia, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in a statement that three people have been arrested on federal charges of conspiracy, identity theft and bank fraud “in connection with a scheme to defraud banks and other lenders by obtaining hundreds of mortgage loans using stolen or fictitious identities of at least 50 victims.”
Garcia estimates that $30 million was stolen by the suspects, who used part of the money “to support a lavish lifestyle purchasing extravagant homes and luxurious cars.”
Those arrested and charged were:
- Alberto Mordoki, 44, of Fullerton, Calif.
- Mirella Mordoki, 35, also of Fullerton.
- Alejandro Sady-Kennedy, 44, of Ladera Beach, Calif.
If convicted, each face fines of $1 million and up to 30 years in jail.
A fourth suspect, James Douglas Lus, 43, has not been apprehended and is a fugitive, Garcia said.
According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District California, the suspects used stolen and fake identities to apply for loans posing as real estate agents, mortgage brokers and borrowers.
“Deceased real estate brokers are among the innocent victims whose identity was stolen,” Garcia said in the FBI statement.
Authorities said the suspects supported their loan applications and packages with bogus income, credit and asset documents, including phony W-2’s, pay stubs and bank statements.
The brass suspects even used their phony identities to pose as landlords providing verification of borrowers’ income and rent history, gift donors providing money for down payments and insurance companies providing homeowners’ insurance, the FBI said.
“The defendants also used stolen or fraudulent identities to establish mail drops, phone numbers and bank accounts and to deal with The California Department of Real Estate,” authorities said.
After buying properties, the defendants frequently “flipped” the properties by quickly selling the properties at inflated prices to themselves using the fake identities. They also typically took out second mortgages “to exhaust all remaining equity,” the FBI said.
“Some of the properties were flipped up to five times by the defendants, eventually allowing the property into foreclosure resulting in losses to the banks and other commercial lenders,” the agency said. “The victims of identity theft suffered adverse effects on their credit.”
The scam was eventually uncovered by lenders, the FBI said.
“Lenders reviewed loan packages and either funded or denied the loans,” the agency said. “Where loans were denied, lenders submitted reports indicating fraud due to Social Security numbers not corresponding to borrowers’ purported employers and fraudulent bank statements.”
The suspects not only used their fake identities to obtain mortgage loans. They used phony drivers license to obtain credit cards, cell phones and bank accounts in the names of their victims, the FBI said.
