SAN DIEGO — Four people convicted in connection with a $55 million mortgage fraud scheme were sentenced to prison in federal court Friday.
Maria Echeverría, Ivan Gil, Laneka Chatton and Jonathan J. Garcia are among 19 defendants named in the 51-count indictment that accuses them of falsifying loan documents to trick lenders into giving home mortgages to unqualified borrowers.
They manipulated banks and other lenders to make more than $55 million in home loans and received a payout of more than $1 million in fees and commissions, according to the indictment, which was filed in June.
From 2004 to about 2007, the foursome lied about borrowers’ income and employment to make them appear to be good candidates for a loan. The scam also included buying false CPA letters from Aguilera’s Bookkeeping and Income Tax service in Vista, stating that would-be borrowers were self-employed.
U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey T. Miller handed down various sentences of a year to 18 months in prison to the four in San Diego federal court Friday.
Garcia, 28, of Carlsbad, and Chatton, 36, of Oceanside, worked at Financial & Realty Group in Oceanside along with other co-defendants, according to prosecutors. Gil, 29, of Oceanside, worked at Dream Homes and Loans in Vista, and Echeverría, 49, of Vista, owned a mortgage company, AmStar Funding.
“Mortgage fraud like that perpetrated by these defendants contributed significantly to the collapse of the real estate market throughout this country,” San Diego U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement Friday.
Eight others accused in the scheme have entered guilty pleas and are awaiting sentencing, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Robert Aguilera, owner of the bookkeeping company, was charged separately. He pleaded guilty but later withdrew that plea, according to court records.
kristina.davis@uniontrib.com • (619) 542-4591 • Twitter @kristinadavis
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