A mortgage broker and her stepson, who was a banker, have been convicted in federal court of defrauding the California bank where he worked.
Leyla Wydler was a mortgage broker who owned several Houston-area businesses including Globan Mortgage Co., Casa Milagro and First Milagro.
One of the business ventures of Wydler, 57, was a real estate project that she was developing in Houston with her stepson, Carlos Wydler, 45.
Carlos was a vice president at a bank located in California, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.
He was in charge of the bank’s credit card department.
Over a one-year period beginning in 2007,
Leyla sent hundreds of credit card applications to Carlos, according to the Justice Department. But many of the applications contained falsified income information and fraudulent supporting documents for borrowers’ employment, income and assets.
“Two eyewitnesses testified they saw Leyla Wydler routinely insert falsified income numbers, sometimes using white-out, on loan applications,” the announcement stated.
Carlos would approve the applications for high credit lines. Then he would issue cash advances to finance investors in the real estate projects.
Leyla would take
a fee from the borrowers’ loan proceeds.
But the bank was deceived into believing the cash advances were “balance transfers” and wasn’t advised of the
fee-sharing or real estate financing arrangements, the government claims.
In
all, Leyla skimmed more than $1.4 million from loan proceeds.
In addition, Carlos is accused of
approving approximately $600,000 more in unauthorized loans to family members.
“More than half of the Texas borrowers run through the Wydler-family business in Houston defaulted on their loans,” the announcement stated. “The bank sustained a loss of more than $8 million.”
Carlos claimed in court that he followed bank policy in his approval decisions, while Leyla’s attorney argued that she didn’t know the information she was sending was fraudulent.
But the jury didn’t believe either defendant.
Following a four-week trial, the jury deliberated for seven hours before convicting the pair on March 7
on multiple counts to include conspiracy, bank fraud, false statements on credit applications, wire fraud and mail fraud.
The pair faces up to three decades in prison and
a possible $1 million maximum fine on each count of conviction.
The Wydlers were taken into custody and will remain incarcerated until their sentencing, which is scheduled for June 23.
