A pair of Long Island, N.Y., residents admitted to defrauding a Rochester, N.Y.-based mortgage company of $1.2 million in a straw borrower scam.
Angelo Loissaint and Jennifer Johnson, both of West Babylon, N.Y., pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud before Judge Elizabeth Wolford of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.
Besides the $1.2 million in loan proceeds the defendants did receive from Flaherty Funding, there was an additional $900,000 in loans that did not close, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office.
The original indictment against Loissaint and Johnson, along with a third person, Sean Ola-Ojo, was handed down in 2012; the case was a follow-up to a 2010 indictment that resulted in four convictions.
Ola-Ojo pleaded guilty to the charges against him in 2014. All three were accused of recruiting straw buyers to purchase five properties in the New York City area at substantially inflated prices. All the documents used to support the applications were forged or altered, according to the press release issued after Ola-Ojo's conviction.
Loissaint and Johnson were originally charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and five counts of wire fraud. Loussaint was also indicted on two counts of money laundering.
The pair are scheduled to be sentenced on July 12.
