A Miami couple and their daughter allegedly ran a mortgage fraud ring that swindled lenders out of $3.8 million, according to a recent story in the Miami Herald. Luis F. Lorie, 36, his wife Lourdes R. Lorie, 42, and their daughter Lourdes Sanchez, 26, have been reportedly arrested and charged with racketeering, criminal conspiracy to commit racketeering, organized fraud and multiple counts of grand theft.
Through Global Mortgage Investors Inc., located in Coral Gables, the family reportedly used a scheme involving a dozen homes, many in the city of Pinecrest. The Herald went on to say that the actual toll to lenders could exceed $15 million, depending on the results of other investigations linked to the family, according to Lt. Bill Santner, an investigator for the state’s Division of Insurance Fraud. “We have over a hundred properties we have been looking at,” he was quoted as saying, including some properties in Broward and in Palm Beach.
The Herald indicated that a similar land flipping case in Broward was broken up in 1999. In that case, James Christenson and Howard Kratenstein, among others, reportedly swindled $30 million out of banks before their indictment.
