Long Island Mortgage Fraud Scheme

Fraud Investigation, Detective Files

Two men from Long Island have been charged with running a $30 million mortgage fraud scheme. The case is pending in Federal Court in the Eastern District of New York located in Central Islip. The prosecutor on the case, Artie McConnell, in his closing statement to the jury stated these two “stole more money than a man with a mask and a gun ever could,” referring to the two men charged with the mortgage fraud. The two defendants in the case are Aaron Wider, who was the head HFTC Corp. in Garden City and Joseph Ferraro, Jr., who is from Long Beach.

The Scheme

Ferraro and Wider were involved in a scheme where homes were purchased and thereafter sold to a trust on the same day. The homes were then subject to an inflated appraisal and they were resold at much higher selling prices, sometimes as much as double. Thereafter Mr. Ferraro and Mr. Wider sold the “toxic mortgages” in the secondary mortgage market and kept the difference Attorney Elliot Schlisselbetween the real and inflated values. This scheme took place between 2003 and 2008. Each home involved in the scheme ended up in foreclosure. In the end, the mortgage holders on these homes were high and dry.

Elliot S. Schlissel and his associates are foreclosure lawyers. They help homeowners who have fallen behind in their mortgages stay in their homes.

Judge Cancels Mortgage against Wife Which Was Fraudulently Obtained

Fraudulently-Obtained

Justice Carmen Velasquez sitting the Supreme Court part of Queens County was recently presented with an unusual case. A wife and husband had married in 1981. The home they lived in was purchased by the wife in 1987. In 1996 a divorce action was initiated. A divorce agreement was entered into in 1997. Pursuant to the terms of this agreement the wife received 100% ownership interest in the home that she purchased in 1987.

Fraudulent Mortgage

The wife claimed her husband and his father had fraudulently obtained a mortgage for $840,000.00 against her home. The wife claims she never signed any documents giving her husband and his father a mortgage on her home. The husband took the position that the signatures on the mortgage were the wife’s, she claimed they were forged.

Wife’s Lawsuit

The wife brought a case seeking the declaration that the husband be barred from all claims to the property, she be considered the lawful owner of the property and the fraudulentmortgage be cancelled and discharged.

Justice Velasquez found the wife’s testimony to be credible and reliable. She took into consideration there was no documentary evidence of a mortgage loan by the wife to the husband’s father. She also took into consideration the wife came from an affluent family and had no need to borrow money. In the end Judge Velasquez granted the wife’s demand for relief, cancelled, removed and discharged the mortgage from the wife’s property.

Elliot-Schlissel

Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq. is a foreclosure lawyer representing clients in obtaining and litigating foreclosure lawsuits throughout the Metropolitan New York area. Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq. and his associates have been defending homeowners in foreclosure proceedings for more than 45 years.

Mortgage Fraud Justice After 8 Years

Signing mortgage contract

In 2007, Newsday, a Long Island Newspaper, uncovered a mortgage scheme by Alan Wildler. Mr. Wildler founded HTFC Corporation, a Garden City mortgage bank. Mr. Wildler perpetrated $30,000,000 in mortgage fraud on Long Island residents. It is now 9 years later and he has recently been convicted regarding his mortgage fraud conspiracy. He now will face up to 30 years in prison.

How The Fraud Worked

Mr. Wildler would buy properties and thereafter transfer the properties to a trust. He would then sell the properties for as much as $300,000 more than he paid for them. He utilized false appraisals which justified the higher prices. He sold the properties during the time of a hot real estate market which concealed the activity for a while. Thereafter, Wildler’s bank would sell off the mortgage loan. Other financial institutions were thereafter defrauded by Wildler’s actions. Banks that purchased the loans as well as the Nassau County Assessment Office flagged the properties as fraudulent transactions. Unfortunately, it took more than 8 years after the mortgage fraud scheme was uncovered for Mr. Wildler to be convicted for his wrongdoing.

Mortgage Fraud Convictions Are Rare

The real estate market had a significant decline in the year 2008. Thereafter there was a huge increase in foreclosure activity. Subsequent investigators uncovered numerous instances involving mortgage fraud in the metropolitan New York area as well as the rest of the country. Unfortunately, very few individuals involved in mortgage fraud have actually been convicted of their activities. Mortgage fraud has a negative impact on the financial market, destroys the lives of families that are defrauded, and creates a lack of confidence among the general public with regard to the institutions involved in buying, selling and financing of real estate transactions.

NY Foreclosure Defense Attorney Elliot Schlissel

Elliot S. Schlissel is a foreclosure lawyer representing homeowners whose homes have been foreclosed, and foreclosure cases and helps homeowners obtain mortgage modifications.

Foreclosure Defense in Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Baldwin, Malverne, Freeport, Oceanside, Long Beach, Elmont, Lakeview, West Hempstead, Hempstead, Merrick and Bellmore, New York

We represent individuals throughout the New York Metropolitan area with divorce and child custody, personal injury, car accident, wrongful death, estate administration, nursing home and medicaid issues

The information you obtain at this website is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your particular legal issue. This is attorney advertising.

This is attorney advertising. This website is designed for general information purposes only. The information presented on this website shall not be construed to be legal advice. If you have a legal problem you should consult with an attorney.

Copyright © 2018 By The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo. All Rights Reserved.