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Two Members of Foreclosure Rescue Scheme Each Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Engaging in Multimillion-Dollar Mortgage Fraud
LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for
the Southern District of New York, announced that ANDREA MOORE
and MICHAEL IRVING were each sentenced today to five years in
prison for their role in a wide-ranging home foreclosure rescue
scheme. The sentence was imposed in Manhattan federal court by
United States District Judge ROBERT P. PATTERSON.
As demonstrated by the evidence at trial, from
September 2004 through April 2005, the scheme that MOORE and
IRVING engaged in was typical of many home foreclosure rescue
schemes. Specifically, MOORE and IRVING targeted homeowners
whose homes, primarily in Brooklyn and the Bronx, were in or
facing foreclosure. They encouraged the homeowners to
"refinance" their debt through new, larger mortgages, by
arranging for them to "sell" their homes to third party "straw
buyers" who would apply for new mortgages in their names. The
new loans would supposedly be used to pay off the old debt and
permit the homeowners to remain in their homes, and homeowners
were promised that title to their homes would return to them
within a year. In some instances, MOORE and IRVING forged the
homeowners' signatures on various documents that transferred the
homes to straw buyers without the homeowners' knowledge. MOORE
and IRVING submitted loan applications to various banks and
lending institutions on the straw buyers' behalf, regularly using
documents containing false or misleading information, including
information concerning the straw buyers' income, assets, and
existing debt, to improve the straw buyers' credit-worthiness.
In this manner, MOORE, who directed the daily operations of the
scheme, and IRVING, who served as a recruiter and later as a
partner to MOORE in the scheme, obtained numerous home mortgages
and/or equity loans valued at well over $10 million. In some
instances, the defendants failed to make even one payment on the
loans, causing the loans to default immediately; in nearly every
other case, they eventually failed to make the payments and
defaulted on the loans, thereby "cashing out" on the properties. The members of the scheme profited from the difference between
the value of the new and old loans, and they also earned hundreds
of thousands of dollars in fees. As a result, the distressed
homeowners lost the titles to their homes and faced eviction; the
straw buyers owed the lenders hundreds of thousands of dollars
that they were unable to repay; and the lenders suffered losses
from the defaulted loans.
MOORE, 55, and IRVING, 44, were found guilty on
November, 13, 2008, on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and
bank fraud, following a 12-day jury trial in Manhattan federal
court.
In addition to their prison term, Judge PATTERSON
sentenced MOORE and IRVING each to 2 years of supervised release
and restitution in the amount of $1,541,728.
Mr. DASSIN praised the work of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. He also thanked the New York State Attorney
General's Office for their significant contribution to the
investigation.
Assistant United States Attorneys JULIAN J. MOORE and
JOHN T. ZACH are in charge of the prosecution.
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