Florida Mortgage Fraud Defendants Sentenced

Yadira Garrido, Jorge Cordero and Maritza Salan were sentenced in connection with their participation in a mortgage fraud scheme. U.S. District Court Judge Federico Moreno sentenced defendant Garrido to 51 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $5.32 million in restitution. Cordero was sentenced to 10 months in prison, three years supervised release and ordered to pay $841,863 in restitution. Salan was sentenced to 60 days in prison, three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $841,863 in restitution. Another co-conspirator, Ishmett Nazario, was previously sentenced to 41 months in prison, three years supervised release and was to pay $1.44 million in restitution. The defendants were charged for their respective roles in the fraudulent sale of residential property located in Coral Gables, Fla. They subsequently pleaded guilty in November 2008. According to the statements made during the pleas, the defendants transferred the residential property three times within approximately one year, resulting in almost doubling the price of the property from $780,000 to $1.4 million. Garrido purchased the residential property and flipped it to straw buyer Cordero. Cordero then transferred the property to co-defendant Jose Alvarez, who sold the property to a second straw buyer Salan. Garrido provided false employment information to the lender to artificially increase Salan's ability to borrow $1.33 million in loans to purchase the property. Once the sale to Salan was in effect, Salan failed to make a single payment on these loans. The property ultimately went into foreclosure, resulting in a significant loss to the lender.