Article
Courtesy of The Miami Herald
By
Martha Brannigan
Published
May 19, 2014
Five Miami
residents and an Orange Park man pleaded guilty this week in federal court
in the Southern District of Florida to participating in a fraudulent scheme
involving the sale of condo units to straw buyers.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, Leidy Masvidal, 42, of Miami, who
co-owned EZY Mortgage Inc., pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank
fraud. Alfredo Jesus Chacon, 48, of Orange Park; and Francisco Martos, 63, a
former loan officer at State Lending, a mortgage company; and Dorian Wong
Magarino, 49, both of Miami, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire
fraud and mail fraud.
Tania Masvidal, 49, co-owner of EZY Mortgage; and Douglas Ponce, 40, both of
Miami, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud.
The Justice Department said straw buyers were paid to submit false loan
applications to lending institutions to buy condos. Many straw buyers
defaulted on the loans after their co-conspirators stopped making mortgage
payments on their behalf, “causing millions of dollars in losses to
lenders,’’ prosecutors said.
Seven other people who were indicted March 31 on charges of participating in
the scheme have pleaded innocent and scheduled for trial on Sept. 8.
They are: Luis Mendez; Stavroula Mendez; Luis Michael Mendez; Lazaro Mendez;
Marie Mendez; Wilkie Perez and Enrique Angulo, the Justice Department said.
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