A New Jersey loan officer is accused of altering his own personal banks statements to use for prospective borrowers on over 20 government-insured mortgages.
Between August 2013 and July 2014, Richard Patino was
a mortgage loan originator for a home-lending firm that was based in New Jersey.
Patino originated residential loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Among the loans he originated were mortgages to finance a home purchase.
But Patino used fraudulent documents to obtain loan approvals on mortgages he originated, according to a complaint filed Friday by the
Department of Justice in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
According to the complaint, he created fraudulent bank statements by altering statements from his own bank account to make them look like they were the loan applicant’s accounts.
With the fake statements in hand, along with the loan application that was signed by Patino as a loan officer, his employer approved the mortgages.
Once the loans were closed, the employer sold the loans to other financial institutions. The Department of Housing and Urban Development approved FHA endorsements on the bad loans.
In addition, funds provided to the homebuyers for the down payments were not reflected on HUD-I closing statements.
In at least one transaction, the borrower stopped paying and the loan went into foreclosure.
As of
last month, law enforcement was aware of roughly 23 Patino’s loans that involved fraud.
Patino was charged in the complaint with wire fraud, which carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. He made an appearance Friday and was released on bail.
