Connecticut Mortgage, Title Fraud Conspirator Sentenced

Thomas Provenzano, a Connecticut man who in January pleaded guilty to real estate fraud, was sentenced Monday to 18 months imprisonment to be followed by five years of supervised release.

Provenzano had faced a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison. The 48-year-old-resident of Torrington, Conn., used a property controlled by his co-conspirator to obtain multiple mortgages and was involved in a separate conspiracy to defraud a title insurance company.

Provenzano and his co-conspirators planned to sell property while omitting one or more liens on the property from a title search report. After the property had sold and title insurance secured the conspirators would resell the property to trigger a title search, after which the liens would be discovered and the conspirators would sue the title insurer for a substantial amount of money for failing to disclose the liens.

Provenzano was also ordered to pay $299,000 in restitution.